Going home, again
by Bella1300
Summary: They finally found their happily ever after and decided to leave Tree Hill and all the drama behind. Four years later, they find themselves returning to the one place that caused them so much pain, hoping things would be different this time around. L/P
1. Photo's and Dreams

Just a little warning, this story is un-beta so all mistakes are mine, sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill….someone else does.

Going home, again.

They finally got their happily ever after and decided to leave Tree Hill and all the drama behind. Four years later, they find themselves retuning to the one place that caused them so much pain hoping this time around things would be different.

* * *

Photo's and Dreams...

Peyton let out a sigh as she flip through the photo album. By the time she woke up this morning, she discovered they had docked the boat and everyone had gone ashore. The night before she had told Lucas she hadn't been sleeping well lately, not that he didn't already know, so it really wasn't a surprise to discover no one was 'home' when she woke up this morning. He's always been extremely protective when it came to her and that just increased by a hundred with everything they had gone through when she was pregnant with Sawyer. So he sent her to bed early the night before, telling not asking, Andy, Karen, Lilly and Sawyer that they either had to be extremely quiet or they had to go to bed too so Peyton could get some sleep. She laughed to herself as she closed the photo album and pushed it to the side before reaching for another.

It's been four years since Sawyer was born and just under four years since the Scott family packed everything up, sold the house, putting most of their stuff in storage before heading out to join Karen, Andy and Lilly on their boat. When Lucas and Peyton announced they were leaving Tree Hill, most of their friends thought they were joking. After all, it had only been a little over two years since Peyton returned home. They soon realized it wasn't as Lucas explained that they didn't want Karen to miss Sawyer growing up and with everything that happen, the hard pregnancy, Dan lurking around and all the other drama that made Tree Hill, well Tree Hill, they just wanted to escape and be happy. It was Haley who pointed out that, once again, they seem to be running away from their problems. Peyton let out a little laugh before saying _'At least this time we're running away together.'_

A few day's later, Peyton, Lucas and Sawyer drove off into the sunset leaving everything behind. Well not really, they drove to around Tree Hill for a while. Revisiting all their special places, showing Sawyer were her mommy and daddy met and later got engaged, officially, where mommy almost ran daddy over with her car, the river court, to the grave yard so Sawyer could meet Grandma Anna and Grandpa Keith and to say good-bye. Not to long after that they drove to Haley and Nathan's house so they could drive them to the dock where they were meeting Andy, Karen and Lilly.

It shocked the hell out of them when they pulled up to the dock to see Skills, Lauren (Jamie's teacher), Mouth, Millie, Brooke and Derek. Nathan got out of the car and shrugged his shoulders saying everyone wanted to say a proper good-bye. Peyton ran towards her bother and jumped into his arms, asking how he knew. Derek laughed a little nodding his head towards Lucas saying _'Once again, he showed up at the base demanding that I come see my niece before you left.' _Peyton looked over her shoulder just in time to catch Lucas's eye and he sent her a half smirk before turning back to the conversation he was having with everyone else. After a long good-bye, many promises to keep in touch, threaten Nathan with bodily harm if anything happen to the 'Comet' or the Mustang he was storing for them, they board the boat and sailed off into the sunset.

Life didn't stop in Tree Hill after the Scott's left. Not that anyone thought it would. Lucas, Peyton and Sawyer returned a couple of times: Mouth and Millie wedding, twice for Christmas and the birth of Liz but they never stayed for more then a week and it had been over a year since they stepped foot in Tree Hill.

Brooke and Julian got together and it was a rough first year, with him living in LA and her in Tree Hill but they found a way to make it work. Finally he popped the question and a little over six months ago they got married on the beach in LA. It was just the two of them, much to the dismay of their friends. She swore Peyton damaged her ear drum from the phone call she received after Peyton got the e-mail with the wedding photo's.

Nathan finally made it to the NBA and Haley took over Red Bedroom Records. Well, not really took over. Peyton keep in touch through e-mails and web cam but Haley handled most of the office work. Haley continued to work on her music career but instead of singing and going on tour, she started writing more and selling her songs. Her and Jamie stayed in Tree Hill, so they wouldn't have to pull Jamie out of school and way from the life he knew and Nathan spent his time traveling back an fourth. It was about three years after they left that Haley gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Elizabeth Penelope Scott, Liz for short.

"What you got there?" a soft voice asked from behind Peyton bringing her out of her thoughts.

She looked over her shoulder to see Karen standing there. She gave her a half smile before turning her attention back to the photo album in front of her, saying "A photo album. Just looking back."

Karen let out a little laugh as she took a seat next to Peyton, setting a cup of tea in front of her before saying "Looking back at what?"

"The past four years." Peyton said pushing the photo album over a little so Karen could see "God Karen, I can't believe Sawyer's four."

"I still can't believe that my baby got married and had a baby." Karen replied

"Yeah, you would think you would have gotten use to that by now." Peyton said with a soft laugh, looking down at the pictures in front of her.

"You would think so." Karen replied as she study Peyton.

She couldn't believe the women that sat beside her was the same teenager she met almost ten years ago. When they first met, Karen knew there was something special about Peyton 'People always leave' Sawyer. Even if it took her son years to finally come to grips with the truth, Karen always believe they would end up together. In those years she watched as Payton transformed from the dark, moody, teenager into the blissfully happy women that sat beside her. But lately, it seemed Peyton was transforming back to that dark places.

Lucas was the first to notice it. About a month ago, they docked the boat and everyone left to explore so Lucas could have some quiet to work on his book. He accidentally came across some of Peyton's art work. It was then that he saw the picture. On one side it was a house, looking very similar to the one Peyton grew up in with what looked like a family sitting on the couch watching tv. On the other side it was boat sailing off into the sunset and _Home? _was written across the top of it. He didn't say anything about it, not wanting to get yelled at for, once again, going through her drawings without permission but that didn't stop him from keeping an even more watchful eye on her.

Two week's later the nightmares started. Peyton never said what they were about but every night she would jolt awake, waking Lucas up in the process. She would mumble something about her being fine and for him to go back to sleep before she disappeared from their bed. He would lay there with his eyes closed, acting like he was asleep and waited for her to come back to bed. Some nights it would take hours for her to come back and then it got to the point that she didn't came back at all but by the time morning came around, Peyton was back to her happy self. Goofing off with Sawyer and Lilly, cooking with Karen but she never mention the nightmares. He was trying to give her space and wait until she came to him but he was really starting to get worried.

Karen came to Lucas with a drawing she found underneath the couch a couple of day's later. A little girl, who looked very similar to Sawyer, was struggling to swim in the ocean and _Can you save her? _was written across the top. It was then that Karen asked him what was going on with Peyton. At first he tried to brush it off say it was nothing but one look from Karen and he told her about the first picture and the nightmares. He was surprised when Karen said she knew something was going on and it was then that she pointed out they lived on a boat and could hear pretty much everything.

"Is everything alright, Peyton?"

"Huh?" Peyton said looking over at Karen, giving her a smile "Yeah, everything's fine."

"Ah huh." Karen said raising an eyebrow. Peyton looked over a Karen and knew there was no point of lying, Karen could always tell when something was up.

Letting out a breath Peyton said "I've just been thinking about ho- Tree Hill-"

"Home." Karen corrected softly "Tree Hill will always be your home. Don't be afraid to call it that."

Peyton gave Karen a smile before saying "Yeah, home. And I don't know what's going on in my head. Don't get me wrong. I've loved traveling the world with you guys, giving Sawyer a chance to see so many things even if she's to young to remember but lately it just seems like something's missing."

"Like what?" Karen asked softly.

"That's just it. I don't know what's missing." Peyton said getting angry with herself "I mean I have this wonderful life. A damn near perfect husband, a beautiful, smart, healthy little girl and I've gotten to see thing's I never in a million years would have dreamed of seeing. But lately something just seems off."

"Have you talked to Lucas about this?"

"Oh god no. The last thing he needs is dark and moody Peyton Sawyer to come back. God I must seem so ungrateful." Peyton paused and brushed a tear away that started to fall down her cheek "You and Andy have been great these past four years. And Lucas finally got to really know Lilly. And Sawyer and Lilly are best friends despite the age difference. And I'm happy. I really am happy and I know if we stay here everything would be fine. But Sawyer could start school this year, not saying Andy wouldn't be able to teach her I mean look at Lilly, she's advance for her age and no offense because you did a wonderful job with Luke but I know a lot of that has to do with Andy teaching her. But still" she once again paused to gather her thoughts before saying "I don't know I guess I want to sort of normalcy for Sawyer. You have to admit that traveling on a boat, flying all over the world really isn't normal."

Karen reach out an took one of Peyton's hands in hers before saying "First off, you need to remember you're Peyton Scott now, not Payton Sawyer and the day my son married you, he vowed to love you forever even when you're feeling dark and moody. Second, you guys never said this was forever. You two just did what you did best and ran away."

"God you sound like Haley." Peyton laughed, wiping her cheek again as the tears poured out of her eyes.

Karen let out a little laugh giving Peyton's hand a little squeeze before continuing "Ok, you guys didn't run away. You chose to leave and be happy. Happiness is a choice, Peyton and whether it's here on this boat, on the plane flying to our next destination or home in Tree Hill, if you choose to be happy, you will be. Third, you're right. This" she paused as she motioned around them "This is not normal. Not many people live like this. Not many people can afford to live like this and I understand where you're coming from when you say that you want a normal child hood Sawyer. God knows you went from being an eight year old kid to being an adult over night. I guess my point is if that's what you want, to have a happy, normal life back in Tree Hill for you and your family then choose it. Life's all about choices, Peyton."

Peyton gave Karen a smile before asking "Do you miss it?"

"Tree Hill?" Karen questioned. Peyton nodded her head and Karen let out a little laugh before saying "Everyday. You guys seem to forget that I grew up in Tree Hill also. I had an entire life in Tree Hill. I have friends there and all of your guys friends Skills, Nathan, Haley, Mouth, Brooke all of them are like kids to me and I miss it everyday." She paused and looked over at Peyton who was looking out over the water before she said "Have I ever told you why i decided to leave Tree Hill?"

Peyton gave Karen a look before shaking her head "No."

"Now don't get mad and listen to the entire story before you judge, alright?"

Peyton let out a little laugh and said "Ok."

"I went to the grave yard one day with Lilly, right after she was born. I introduced Keith and Lilly and sat there for a while just talking to a head stone. I got up to leave and when I was about to reach my car, I turned and saw you talking to your mom. You sat there for forty-five minutes before you go up to leave. You started to walk away but then turn around and walked towards Keith's grave. You didn't stay to long but I could tell you were talking to him. As I watched, your face seem to transform into Lilly's and I couldn't, I didn't want her to be like that. I know life was hard on you back then. I know you had a lot to adjust to from your Mom dieing and a Dad that was never around but I couldn't see Lilly going to Keith's grave everyday. I didn't want that for her. Not saying that you going to talk to your Mom is wrong because it's not. But you don't have to go to the grave yard to talk to her. I strongly believe that Keith, Anna and Ellie are watching over us. All of us. And if you feel like talking to her, then talk to her. Now don't get me wrong, whenever I'm in Tree Hill, Lilly and I go to see Keith but I've made sure she knows that he not there. That's just where his body is."

"So you left for Lilly?"

"I guess so. Later that night I was talking to Andy on the phone and I told him the story I just told you and the next thing I know he said there was a plane waiting at the airport for Lilly and I. I would never be able to love Andy like I love Keith and he knows that. He's told me that but I do love Andy and he's great with Lilly. That night I made a choice to be happy. To be happy with Lilly and Andy whether it be on a boat or on a plane."

"Have you ever regretted it?"

"Not once." Karen replied honestly "I regret that Lucas and Lilly don't see each other much and that I missed out on so many important event's such as my son's wedding, seeing Jamie grow up and now Liz. But not once have I regretted leaving Tree Hill. It was time for me to move on and that's what I did. Tree Hill will always be home but this is my home away from home."

Peyton looked out over the water for a moment before saying "I told him how proud he would be." Karen looked over at her confused and she continued "Keith. That day in the cemetery, I told Keith how proud he would be to see the man Lucas was become and how strong you were and how beautiful Lilly was."

Karen gave Peyton a smile before saying "He is and he knows."

They sat there for a while both lost in their own thoughts when Peyton finally said "Happiness is a choice."

"That's right." Karen said patting Peyton on the leg before she stood up "Just talk to your damn near perfect husband. He'll understand."

Peyton laughed, saying "Oh god, please don't tell him I said that."

"And inflate his ego even more, I wouldn't dream of it." Karen said as she started to walk back into the boat. She stopped and turned to look back a Peyton, saying "And you might want to talk to him about these nightmares you've been having. You have him worried sick."

Peyton turned a nodded her head, seeing Andy, Lucas, Lilly walking towards the boat as Sawyer ran as fast as her little legs would move in front of them. "Thanks Karen."

"Don't mention it." She said with a wink.

"Mommy!" Sawyer exclaimed once she got closer to the boat.

Karen didn't miss Peyton inhale a breath as Sawyer jumped from the dock to the boat. Laughing a little she pointed at Peyton, saying "You should be use to that by now."

"I don't think I'm ever going to get use to that." Peyton said shaking her head "I mean why can't she just walk on to the boat. Why does she have to jump on to it? She almost gives my a heart attack every time."

"Get use to it. You're a mom."

Peyton laughed as Karen dissappeared into the Boat. Sawyer ran full speed twoards her and jumped into her arms as soon as she was close enough.

"Feeling better, Mommy?" the four year old curly hair girl asked as she wrapped her arms around her mothers neck.

"Much better now."

"Good. Daddy was worried about you." Sawyer said, pulling away just enough to look her mom in the eye.

"He was, was he?" Peyton asked, eyeing Luke as he approached them "Well, I think Daddy need's to stop worrying so much."

"Never." Luke said as he bent down, placing a soft kiss on Peyton's forehead "You sure you're feeling better?"

"I'm fine." Lucas turned his head and squinted his eyes, a tall tale sign that he was trying to read her which caused her to laugh and say "I'm fine babe. I promise."

He finally nodded his head as Lilly came out of the boat, saying "Sawyer, Mom and Andy are going to take us to see a movie. Come on, we have to get ready."

Sawyer blue eyes light up with excitement as she jumped off Peyton's lap, grabbing Lilly hand before running back into the boat.

"No make-up." Lucas called after them as he grabbed Peyton's hand to pull her up from the chair "I'm not joking I don't even want to see lip-gloss on her lips, Lilly."

Peyton let out a laugh as he pulled her back down so she was sitting on his lap.

"She reminds me of Brooke." Luke said as he wrapped his arms around his wife's slim waist.

"Sawyer?"

"No, Lilly."

"Oh that's a scary thought."

"Yeah, I know." Luke said with a scowl "Good thing she's trapped on a boat, getting home school by Andy."

"Aww, keep telling yourself that if it help's you sleep at night."

"More than you know." he said before looking her in the eye "Are you sure you're feeling better?"

"I'm perfect." Peyton said as she wrapped her arms around his neck giving him a kiss. When she finally pulled away, she ran her fingertips gently down the front of his shirt as she said, in a low whisper "Well, Mr. Scott. It seems that we're going to have this big old boat to ourselves for a couple of hours. What do you think we should do?"

"Well, Mrs. Scott" he said in a low voice, brushing her hair away from her neck as he leaned in, leaving a trail of light feathered kiss along her jaw line. "I can think of a few things."

"Oh yeah," she whispered as he approached the one spot they both knew would be her undoing. The one spot, she told him before in the dark of the night as they laid on the front of the boat, watching the stars twinkling above, no other man had found "Like what?"

"Like this," he said as pressed a kiss on said spot causing a soft whimper to cross her lips as her hand found it's way into his hair on the back of his head "or this." he said nibbling on her skin before sucking on it, running his tongue across it.

"Or Mrs. Scott could go grab her purse and jacket and you could go get something to eat and talk. Have a night out as Lucas and Peyton not Mom and Dad." Karen said walking up behind them.

Peyton's eyes went wide as all action on her neck stop and Luke let out a groan. This wasn't the first time something like this has happen. In fact, living in such small quarters it's happens far to often but that didn't make it any less embarrassing or annoying.

"I'll be right back." Peyton said as she removed herself from his lap and made her way into the boa,t avoiding Karen glaze the entire time.

"Where's my girl's?" Luke said standing up also refusing to meet his mom's eyes causing Karen to laugh.

"Right here." Andy said walking out of the boat with Sawyer and Lilly behind him. He stood next to Luke and they simultaneously crossed their arms over their chest, giving the young girls the once over.

Luke turned to Andy, raising an eyebrow asking "What do you think?" before turning his attention back to the girls.

Andy reached out and gently ran his thumb across Lilly cheek before saying "Well, no cover-up this time."

"Ah huh," Luke said as he squatted down in front of his daughter "What do we have here?"

"But Dadd-"

"Wipe it off." Luke said taking the napkin Andy was holding out in front of him.

"Come on Luke, it's clear." Lilly protested

"I don't care, she doesn't need to be wearing make-up."

"It's only lip-gloss."

"She's four." Luke said giving Lilly a look letting her know to drop it. He gently wiped the lip-gloss off Sawyer's lips while she glared at him. "Okay, I think they're good to go."

Andy nodded his head as they heard Peyton laughing as she walking out of the boat. She slid the door closed before kneeling down behind the girls. She took one look at Sawyer's face and already knew that had transpired before hand.

"Mommy, Daddy made me wipe it off." Sawyer exclaimed like the world was come to an end.

"Did he?" Peyton question like she couldn't believe Luke would do such a thing.

"And it was clear, Peyton. You couldn't even tell she had lip-gloss on." Lilly said, ignoring the glare Luke was sending her.

"Do this baby." Peyton said to Sawyer as she puckered up her lips. Sawyer mimicked her mom and Peyton gave her a kiss before saying "There now you have lip-gloss on and Daddy can't tell you to wipe it off because it was a kiss from me and he can't tell you to wipe off a kiss from Mommy."

Karen and Andy tried to cover up their laughter and Lilly gave Luke a smile while he squinted at his wife and child trying to figure out what was worse the fact that his daughter ratted him out to her mom or the fact that his wife just over-ruled him knowing damn well that he would never tell Sawyer to wipe one of Peyton kiss off. Sawyer saw the look he was giving them and mimicked him. Luke's eyes went wide as he looked at Peyton.

"That's your fault." he said pointing his finger at her.

Peyton laughed as she stood up straight remembering the conversation when she told him she wanted their child to have his '_stupid little squint_.' It was true, Sawyer started to squint her eyes before she was one and perfected the face be the time she was two, using it to her full advantages ever since.

"Enough," Karen said, stepping in before Peyton and Luke started acting like their four year old "we have to get going or we'll miss the movie."

*****_**One Tree Hill*** _

Peyton and Luke walked side by side down the beach. His arm hung loosely around her shoulders and in the other hand he held their shoes as they walked close enough to the shore to have the waves crash around their feet. It had been a little over an hour since they parted way's with Karen, Andy and the girl's. They found a nice little restaurant and had dinner. As they walked out of the restaurant, Peyton told Luke she wanted to talk to him about something and pulled him towards the beach. They've been walking along the shore line for fifteen minutes now and she had yet to say anything.

"Mom was right. It's nice to go out as Luke and Peyton once in a while." he said getting fed up with the silence.

"Yeah" she said softly giving him a sideways look before looking out towards the water.

Lucas Scott has always been able to tell when Peyton Sawyer had something on her mind. People have always told him they had this unexplainable connection. And after known her since they were sixteen and being married to her for four years, there was no way he could deny it. He's known something been bothering her. Hell, he's known something's been on her mind for a month now. When she pulled him towards the beach, he thought she was finally ready to let him in. Not that she keeps things from him, she always ends up tell him, it just takes a while sometimes. She likes to process everything and get thing's clear in her head before she comes to him and by now, he's learned to accepted that. But he also knew that sometimes she needed a little jump start, especially if she was afraid of how he would react and judging from the way she's been acting, he knew she was worried about his opinion.

"Come here." he said, guiding her away from the shore line. He sat down in the sand before pulling her down to sit in between his legs. He waited for her to get comfortable before wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. "So… are you going to tell me what's going on in that head of your's?"

Peyton laughed a little before cuddling more into his embrace. She's been trying to find the right words to explain to him how she's feeling. Finally, deciding the direct approach would be best and blurted out "I want to go home."

"Okay," he said wondering what the big deal was "We can go home for a visit. When do you want to go?"

"No Luke, I don't want to go home to visit." she said turning her head to look at him "I want to go home."

Luke looked at her for a second before looking back towards the water. He always knew this day would come. When he first brought the idea up of traveling with his mom, it was only suppose to be for a year and then they were suppose to return to Tree Hill. That's why they stored most of their stuff and had Nathan store their cars in his garage instead of selling them. It's also why Peyton didn't sell the label. They were always suppose to go back. It was a week before they were suppose to go home when he got the call from Nathan and it seemed like his world came crashing down around him. Dan got a transplant.

He feels guilty sometimes about the way he felt when those words left Nathan mouth. He figured a normal person would feel some type of relief or joy when they found out a family member got the transplant they needed. Whether the relationship was strong, on shaky ground or non-existent, that didn't change the fact that, that person was blood. And this was his 'father'. His blood ran through Luke's veins, so the last thing he should be feeling was anger. But that's what he felt.

Luke had come to grips with the fact that Dan was going to die. He feel's like an evil person every time he think's about that day in the hospital when he saw Dan getting ready for a transplant because it brings a smile to his face. Honestly, he thought it was Keith way of trying to bring some relief to the pregnancy situation. How else could you explain that out of all the people in Tree Hill that would have paid to see it, he had a front row seat to watch a dog eat the heart of a man that had no heart and sure as hell didn't deserve a second chance at life.

Dan was part of the reason Peyton agree to leave. She knew Lucas would never say the words out loud but part of the reason he wanted to 'see the world' was because Dan was only given six months and would be dead by the time they returned home. She knew he didn't want Dan to have any part in Sawyer's life. She was honestly scared when she saw the anger flash in his eyes the night she told him Dan held Sawyer. A blank look crossed his face and he just stared at her but it wasn't like he was looking at her. It was almost like his was look through her and then suddenly he snap back to reality and left the house, without saying a word, slamming the door behind him. She gave him two hours to cool off before she tried his cell. When he didn't answer, she call Nathan who answer his phone by whispering _'Everything's fine, we're at the river court, he'll be home soon' _and hung up.

By the time he got home that night, the house was dark. Sawyer was in the bassinet that stood at the end of the bed and Peyton was laying on her side. There was no indication Peyton was awake but he started talking anyway. Not loud enough to wake up Sawyer but loud enough for Peyton to hear if she was awake. He said he understood and respected the decision Haley and Nathan made about letting Dan into Jamie's life but he still didn't want Dan to have any part of Sawyer's life. Dan abandon him and Karen and by the time Lucas got to know him, he turned out to be an evil man. And even if he's changed for the better that would never change the fact that he killed Keith. Lucas went to say he knew Dan had done his time and 'paid' his debt to society but that didn't change how he felt. At some point Peyton turned over to face him and he made his way to the bed. When he was finished with his speech she simply looked up and asked _'When do we leave?' _

After that phone call, it was Peyton that suggested they stay a little longer and Karen immediately agreed. Day's turned into weeks which quickly turned into months and suddenly, here they were, nearly four years later. Peyton promised to give him time and he in returned promised the day she said she wanted to go home, they would go.

Luke shook his head to try and clear his thoughts and glance down. He wasn't sure how long he'd spaced out for but Peyton had turned her attention back to the water.

"So tell me about these dreams you've been having."

"Luke, don't you think we shou-"

"Not now Peyt." he said cutting her off, pleading with his eyes for her to drop it for now "Please, we'll talk I promise. Just not right now."

She slowly nodded her head before saying "In the morning."

"In the morning."

"Before we leave our room."

He laugh lightly, saying "I promise, before we leave the room."

Satisfied with his answer, she turned her attention back to the water. He waited a few minutes for her to tell him about the dreams. Finally he asked again.

"So these dreams…"

"It's nothing, Luke."

"Come on, Peyton. Something's been going on for a while now and you haven't gotten a decent night sleep since you started having these dreams. I don't call that nothing."

"Hey, I agreed to give you until morning." she protested, turning her head to look at him.

"Yeah, and I've given you a month." he pointed out "And the dreams started two week's ago."

She looked back to the water, laying her head back against his shoulder, saying in a soft voice "It's Sawyer. In the dream, I'm trapped under water and by the time I reach the surface, I hear Sawyer screaming for me. I look around and there she is just out of arms reach but nothing else around. No boat, no land, no you." she paused for a second when she felt him tighten his arms around her waist "It's just Sawyer and I, alone in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of the night and I can't reach her. No matter how hard I swim I can't reach her. She just keep's struggling to swim and screaming, in this terrified voice, for me to save her and I can't."

"Peyton."

"No, that's not the worst part. When I wake up, it's not that haziness you usually have when you wake up from a dream. I remember everything so clearly. Sometimes I can feel the burn in my muscle like I really was swimming that hard or I can still hear her screaming for me. I have to get up and check on her and lately I haven't been able to go back to sleep. It's like there's this force not allowing me to sleep. I sit up by the door just to ensure myself that she can't get out."

Luke looked down at his sobbing wife and swore he felt his heart break because he had no idea what to say to her to make her feel better. Suddenly, the pictures she drew, made sense and he felt like he owed Nathan a free shot at him for not realizing it sooner.

"I'm sorry. We were having a great night and I -"

"Don't do that." he said cutting her off "Don't apologize for telling me what was going one. That dream, that's horrible. I should have talked to you about it sooner. God Peyt, I'm so sorry. No wonder you haven't been sleeping well."

"Luke come on. You tell me not to apologize and then you turn around and apologize for not forcing me to talk."

Luke cupped her face with both hand wiping any remaining tears, saying "No Peyt, I knew something was up when I saw those drawings but I didn't say anything-"

"Wait. What?" Peyton said pulling out of his embrace "What did you just say?"

"I knew something was up." he asked more then state. He knew he slipped but he was hoping she wouldn't catch it.

"No, after that." the look on his face gave him a way and she reached out and punched him in the arm, exclaiming "Asshole, you went through my drawings again."

"No, I didn't." he said trying to defend himself. One look at Peyton's face and he knew she wasn't buying it. "Alright, when I saw the picture of the house and the boat, I was looking through your drawings."

"Lucas."

"But" he said cutting her off "My mom found the one of the little girl under the couch."

Peyton let out a breath as she lean back into him. Right now she really didn't care how he saw them. The only thing that mattered was she told him what was going on and as usual, she felt a million times better. They sat there in silence until he felt her shiver when a cool breeze hit them.

"Come on, let's get back to the boat." he said, stand up brushing off any remaining sand before reaching out to help her up. Picking up their shoe's, he wrapped his free arm around her shoulders bring her closer to him. Peyton laid her head against his chest, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist as they started walking back towards the dock.

"Thanks Luke."

He wasn't sure what she was thank him for. If anything, he felt like he only seem to make thing worse. Still, he kissed the top of her head before saying "Anytime."

_***One Tree Hill***_

"_Mommy!" _

"_I'm coming baby girl. Just keep swimming." Peyton said kicking her legs as fast as she could._

"_Mommy, save me."_

"_I'm coming baby."_

"_I can't swim anymore, Mommy. My arms are tired." _

"_Sawyer you got to keep swimming" Peyton yell "Mommy's coming."_

"_Why didn't you save me?" Sawyer ask in a clam voice before disappearing under the water._

"_Sawyer?!" Peyton exclaimed as her eye's bounce wildly across the oceans surface looking of any sign of her daughter "SAWYER!"_

Peyton jolted awake, breathing heavily, her body drenched in a cold sweat. She jumped a little when she felt Luke's arms circle around her waist.

"It's just a dream." he whispered softly into her ear trying to comfort her "It was just a dream, babe."

She knew Luke was right but this time had been different from all the other dreams. This time Sawyer had asked her why she didn't save her before disappearing. Not being able to shake the feeling that something was wrong, she pulled out of the death grip Lucas had on her, heading towards the door.

"Peyt." he said softly not wanting to wake anyone else up.

He's pleas fell on deaf ears as Peyton walked out of their room, heading towards the room Lilly and Sawyer shared. A quiet as possible, she opened the bedroom door and felt her heart stop when she saw the bottom bunk bed empty. Her eyes immediately flew to the top bunk and was relieved to see Lilly sleeping peacefully. She tip-toed over to the bed to look to see if Sawyer was on the other side of Lilly and felt her heart stop when she saw that she wasn't.

"Peyton." Luke whispered as he walked into the room.

"She's not there." Peyton said pushing her way past him, heading out to the deck.

Luke quickly examined the room before rushing out after her. "Peyt- ouch damn it" he said as he foot made contact with the door frame. He stumbled out on to the deck to see Peyton searching around franticly.

"Peyton, you've got to calm down. I'm sure she just crawled into bed with my-"

"Daddy?"

Lucas and Peyton peaked around the side of the boat to see Sawyer stand one the dock, with a blanket in her hand.

"Sawyer." Peyton breathed out before jumping off the boat and scooping the young girl up in her arms.

"Lucas, what's going on?" Karen's tired voice came from behind him.

"I'm sorry Mom, we didn't mean to wake you up. Peyt had a bad dream and then couldn't find Sawyer-"

"Sawyer?" Karen question before looking past Lucas, noticing Sawyer in Peyton's arms "What's Sawyer doing out here?"

"I wanted to watch the stars Grandma." Sawyer said in a soft voice, refusing to look anyone in the face, knowing she was going to get a talking to in the morning about leaving the boat.

Karen laughed lightly as she patted Lucas shoulder, saying "I'm going to head back to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"I'm really sorry Mom. We didn't wake up Lilly or Andy, did we?"

"No, everyone else is sleeping." Karen said as she raised an eyebrow "And Peyton didn't wake me up. It was the ouch-damn it, that woke me up."

"Night Mom." Lucas said before turning his attention back to Peyton, who was still standing on the dock, holding Sawyer in her arms. He reached out his hand to help her back on to the boat and pulled them into a tight hug, Sawyer stuck in between them. He kissed the back of Sawyer's head before placing a kiss on Peyton's forehead, rubbing his hand against her back.

"Lilly's birthday's tomorrow."

Peyton raised an eyebrow, wondering why he said that at a time like this. He squinted his eyes before saying "Jaime is two day's later. How about we surprise them?"

"Really, Luke?"

"Yeah Blondie, let's go home."

* * *

A/N: Okay, first off just let me say, I know this is a really long chapter but I wanted to give you guys my version of what's happened in the last four year but I also wanted to keep the story in the present so the next chapter the Scott family could be back in Tree Hill. I don't plan to make all the chapter this long but I don't plan on having them short either. This chapter was over 7000 word I usually like to stay in between 4000 and 5000. Sometimes less, sometimes more. Also, everything that's happen in the show all the way to the final episode in season 6 has happened and then some. I will tell you now that I don't plan to follow the show into season 7. I guess you could say, this is kind of my own little version of season 7 it just takes place four years after season 6 ends. So what did you think….do you want more?


	2. I'm going to kill him

Just a little warning, this story is un-beta so all mistakes are mine, sorry. Uninspired

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill….someone else does.

A/N: First, I wanted to apologize to anyone who was having a hard time reading this story. The site was being stupid that day. I hope there isn't any problems this time around. Secondly, I just want to say a quick thank you to all of you who reviewed so THANK YOU: crazyjan, fantasy27, cayt326, mahsa, DanielNieves, AnnOTH21 and TSS.

mahsa: I'm glad you finally got to read it and that you love it. I hope the same goes for this chapter….

* * *

_**I'm going to kill him…**_

"Why are you putting my clothes in this?" Sawyer asked as she sat on her bed, watching Peyton pack her suitcase.

"Because we're going to Tree Hill."

"What's Tree Hill?"

"It's where you were born, baby." Peyton said as she put the last of Sawyer's clothes in the suitcase. She took one last look around the room before her eyes landed on her daughter's confused face "Sawyer, you know what Tree Hill is. You've been there before."

"It's a town?" Sawyer asked still confused.

"Yeah baby, it's a town. Don't you remember going to visit Aunt Haley and Uncle Nathan?"

"The people I talk to on the phone?"

"Yeah, the people you talk to on the phone." Peyton replied absentmindedly.

Suddenly, panic ripped through Peyton body. Sawyer not remembering Tree Hill was bad enough but their friends and family being known as _'the people she talk to on the phone'_ was worse. She knew everyone would be understanding but she also knew they would be a little hurt that the young girl didn't really know them. It wasn't like Luke and Peyton didn't talk about Tree Hill and everyone there. They did and Sawyer's talked to Haley a couple of time over the webcam but the more Peyton thought about it, she realized that was the only way Sawyer really would know everyone. In the past four years they haven't spent more than twenty days in Tree Hill.

Sure, everyone sent presents on her birthday and Christmas and someone would make sure Sawyer would call and tell them thank you. She would say hi whenever anyone was on the phone with someone from home but usually it was only after said person said _'tell Sawyer hi for me' _or _'let me talk to Sawyer'_. Even when Peyton was talking to someone over the webcam, Sawyer would just pop her head into the frame and wave real quick before running off to do something else. And the last time they went home was a little over a year ago for Mouth's wedding and Sawyer was just about to turn three.

Peyton looked down at her daughter before looking around the room. It was time to do some damage control. Sawyer was a pretty shy little girl until she felt comfortable with you and until that happen she would cling to Peyton or Luke. A smile crossed her face when she saw a picture of what looked like the entire gang sitting on a shelve. It soon fade when she picked it up and it dawn on her when it was taken. Three people were missing from that day but only two of them were important and Peyton was pretty sure she could find a picture of them together.

"Come here, baby." Peyton said picking Sawyer up, taking her place on the bed so she was sitting in her lap " See this is everyone in Tree Hill."

"That's Grandma and Andy." Sawyer said proudly pointing them out.

"That's right and this is Aunt Haley and Uncle Nathan."

"Daddy." Sawyer exclaimed pointing to Luke.

"Yeah that's Daddy and that little boy in Daddy's arm is your cousin Jamie."

"He's little like me." Sawyer said with a smile " Whose that?"

"No, baby. Jamie's Lilly's age and that little girl is Lilly, when she was four like you. This pictures a couple years old." Peyton said "As a matter of fact, today is Jamie's birthday."

"So we're going to Tree Hill for his birthday?" Sawyer asked excitedly

"Kind of." Peyton said, biting her bottom lip before continuing "And this is Aunt Millie, Uncle Mouth and Uncle Skills."

"They have funny names, Mommy." Sawyer giggled

Peyton laughed, saying "Those aren't their real names, Honey. It's their nickname. You know, like when I call you baby."

"I want a funny nickname like them."

"Trust me, once Brooke get a hold of you, you'll have a lot of nicknames."

"Whose Brooke?" Sawyer asked looking back at the picture.

Peyton cringes and could already hear Brooke's raspy voice in her head _'How does she, mini-Sawyer, not know who Brooke Davis is?' _Yeah, time for some major damage control.

"She's not in this picture." Peyton said as she reached over the suitcase for her purse. Pulling out her wallet, she flipped to a picture of Sawyer, Brooke and her that was taken the last time they went home from Christmas.

"That's me." Sawyer said as soon as she saw the picture.

"That's right and that's Brooke holding you." Peyton said as she watched Sawyer look between the two pictures as if she was trying to remember them.

"Why aren't you and Aunt Brooke in the picture with Daddy?"

Have you every felt instant relief wash over you only to be replaced by a horrible dreaded feeling, seconds later? That's exactly how Peyton felt. The relief came when she heard Sawyer call Brooke, Aunt Brooke. When she showed Sawyer the photo, she just said that's Brooke, so when she heard Sawyer call her Aunt Brooke, she knew everything would be alright when they arrived in Tree Hill. It may take a few day's for her to warm up to everyone but at least she would know who she was talking to and Peyton could just blame any shyness on the move. But now, she had to explain to her daughter why she wasn't in a photograph that was taking at her father's almost wedding.

"Luke told me to come and tell you he need's the last bag. The car's here." Lilly softly said, standing in the doorway, staring at the floor.

"Are they standing at the end of the dock?" Peyton asked.

A frown crossed her face when Lilly merely nodded her head yes without looking up. Putting on a happy face she turned to Sawyer, saying "Hey baby girl, why don't you run down and tell Daddy, Mommy's to weak to carry this big old suitcase by myself and I need some big strong man to help me."

Sawyer nodded as she jumped off Peyton lap, running out the door.

"Hey Lillster," Peyton said "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure." Lilly said walking towards the bed, taking a seat on the bed next to her.

"Listen, I just wanted to say thank you."

"For what?"

"Well," Peyton said putting her arm around Lilly shoulders "For one, acting all happy in front of Sawyer, even though all you feel like doing is crying." She softly laughed when Lilly looked up at her like she had read her mind "Trust me kid, I've been there. I can read that face from a mile away. Sawyer really doesn't understand that we're not going to be seeing you guys for a while and you've been a big help the last couple of days. So to say thank you, I got you a little something', something.."

"Really?" Lilly said as Peyton reached under the bed, pulling out a wrapped box. "You and Luke didn't have to get me anything."

"Hey, who said Lucas had anything to do with this?" Peyton said making a face which resulted in a smile crossing Lilly's face. _Mission accomplished_, Peyton thought as Lilly ripped the wrapping paper off the box.

"A webcam." Lilly exclaimed as her smile grew.

"Well, this way we can talk face to face. I know how bad it suck not being able to have family around and talking over the phone is so impersonal. So come on give it up, who's your favorite sister-in-law?"

"Peyt, you're my only sister-in-law." Lilly said looking back down at the box "But this is pretty cool, thanks." she finished wrapping her arms around Peyton's neck, giving her a tight hug.

"Alright, alright." Peyton laughed as she pulled out of the embrace "Now, I've talked to your Mom and Andy and they agreed to let you have this. I've already told Andy how to set it up, so you're all set there but this is only to talk to all of us in Tree Hill. No video blogs and defiantly, no talking to anyone you don't know." Peyton said with a shuddered, thinking about the trouble she got in to with her webcam "And it can't be set up in your room."

"Okay." Lilly agreed immediately.

"So, do you like it?"

"I love it."

"Good, I'm glad" Peyton said with a smile as the picture, that had been set off to the side, caught her attention "Lilly, do you remember Tree Hill?"

Lilly looked over at Peyton before shrugging her shoulders "Kinda. I mean I know that's where Dad's buried and I know I have family there but most of what I can tell you about it, I've heard from you, Luke or Mom."

"Do you remember any of these people?" Peyton asked, showing her the picture.

"Well, I don't keep it in my room just because it look's pretty." Lilly said with a smirk causing Peyton to roll her eyes. Laughing, Lilly went on to say "It's Haley and everyone. It was taken at Luke's first wedding."

"Daddy, you had two wedding's?" Sawyer asked innocently causing Lilly and Peyton to look away from the picture, towards the door and they immediately started to laugh at the look on Luke's face.

"No."

"Hey, no more secret's, remember?" Peyton said with a smirk.

"Yeah but something's are better left in the past." Luke said taking the picture out of Peyton's hand and looked it over before turning to Lilly "You needed an new picture. Peyton and Brook aren't even in this." he finished as he set the picture back in it's spot.

"Well then, Lilly will just have to come visit us, once we get settled." Peyton said putting her arm around Lilly.

"Really?"

"Hell yeah." Peyton exclaimed " Defiantly, before summer's over."

Lilly's eyes shot to Lucas, who was nodding his head, before jumping off the bed, exclaiming "I have to go to tell Mom. Come on, Sawyer."

"I'm going to miss her." Peyton softly said once the girls were out of the room.

"Yeah, me too." Lucas said walking towards the bed "Is this good to go?"

Peyton took one final look around the room before nodding her head, saying "I think so."

Lucas laughed, shaking his head as he reached down to zip the zipper when the box caught his eye "What's this?"

She looked over to see the box in his hand and cringed. She was hoping to just 'surprise' him one day when she was talking to Lilly on it, after they left. " Lucas, I've already talked to Karen and Andy about this and they've agreed to let her have it."

"You do remember everything that happen to you because of this stupid thing, right?"

"Yes and because of that, she has rules and she's already agreed to them."

Lucas let out a sigh as he looked from the box in his hand to Peyton. He knew from the look on her face that there wasn't much he could do about this, especially after he heard that she had already talked to Karen about it. Even if he raised enough fuss about it, which he was dieing to do, he knew his mom would still set it up after they left.

"It's better not be set up in her bedroom."

"Way a head of you babe, Andy's going to set it up in the living room."

"I still don't like it." he said tossing the box back on to the bed.

"I know. Why do you think no one told you about it?" Peyton said with a smirk before she stood to walk towards the door. She let out a little laugh when she heard him mumble something under his breath as he picked up the suitcase and followed her.

Saying good-bye took another ten minute and surprisingly it was Lucas who had to pull Peyton away and force her into the car so they could leave and that was only after the driver threaten to leave without them for the fifth time. Karen wasn't surprised when they got back to the boat, after their walk on the beach and told Andy and her they were planning to go home. She knew her son would follow Peyton anywhere, having learned the lesson of not, a long time ago but it was a surprise when they told them they wanted to be home for Jamie's birthday. She figured they would at least stay until they had everything settled in Tree Hill, such as finding a house, send their stuff they had on the boat there so it would be waiting for them but none the less she smile and said it was great.

They waited until after Lilly birthday to tell the girls. Sawyer was excited to go, thinking they were coming back. Peyton heard her on more then one occasion, tell Karen she was going to be back soon after Karen declared how much she was going to miss the little girl. Lilly, on the other hand, understood immediately that they were moving to Tree Hill and probably wouldn't be coming back for a while.

The day's following Lilly's birthday past quickly. The made sure they had everything packed up, which wasn't very much since most of their stuff was in storage but it was still more than anyone thought and they shipped it Haley's house. It wasn't going to arrive until a couple of day after they got there but they were pretty sure they wouldn't have a house just yet so Haley's was the safest place to send it. They left out enough clothes to get them through until their stuff arrive and packed it in some carry on's so they wouldn't have to check in any bags.

Unfortunately, their plan back fired when they arrived at the airport only to discover they had to check Sawyer's toddler seat in. The plane ride went well, considering they were traveling with a four year old. It was as at the baggage claim that thing's started to go sour.

"It's not funny." Lucas exclaimed when he heard a giggle escape from Peyton, who stood beside him.

"Oh come on Luke. You're mad because we have to wait for a toddler seat." Peyton giggled again causing him to roll his eyes "You actually suggested that we leave her here."

"Daddy you can't leave me here. I'm to little." Sawyer said looking up from the Peyton necklace she was playing with to look at him.

"Yeah Daddy." Peyton giggled causing him to squint his eyes and shake his head "Oh come on, it's not that bad. So we have to wait for a few minutes."

"And we have an hour ride to Tree Hill. We're already late enough. Haley's pissed." he said looking down at his phone seeing that it was already going on three.

"Call her and let her know we're at the airport and we'll be there soon."

"I can't."

"Why not?" Peyton said looking over at him "Oh Luke, no."

"What?"

"She does know we're coming right?"

"Well that would defeat the whole purpose of a surprise."

"Nate knows, right?"

"Once again, that would defeat-"

"The whole purpose of a surprise. Yeah I heard you the first time. At least tell me you booked a room for the night."

"Why would I do that?" he asked confused as he reached over and picked up the toddler seat from the belt.

"Lucas, we can't just show up and expect them to let us stay."

"Why not? It's not like they don't have the room."

"It's rude." Peyton exclaimed "When you said let's surprise them, I thought you were talking about Jamie."

"Why would I say them if I only meant Jamie?"

"Because your you." Peyton said as they walked out of the airport "We don't know what their plan's are. What if their leaving tomorrow? Then what are we going to do?"

"Stay in their big old house by ourselves." Lucas said with a grin causing Peyton to roll her eyes "Relax, Peyt. Everything's going to be alright. Haley would be offended if we stayed at a hotel over staying at her house."

"Whatever. But I'm going to make sure Haley knows this was all your idea and I had no part of it. "

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Lucas Eugene Scott, if you don't call your nephew soon to wish him a happy birthday, I'm going to personal fly to where ever the hell you are right now and kick your ass. This is the third voicemail I've left you today. He hurt Luke and I'm pissed. So get your head out of your ass and call us back." Haley said into the phone before hitting the off button, slamming it down on the counter.

Haley's eyes traveled to the clock before letting out a growl and pulling the closest drawer opened. Nathan, who had been standing in the doorway watching her with a smile on his face, decided now was the time to step in.

"Now is not the time to organize." He said wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her way from the counter "It's the middle of Jamie's party, can't that wait until tomorrow or at least until everyone leaves?"

"Not funny, Nathan." she said pulling out of his embrace "It's going on 4 and he still hasn't called. Jamie's crushed."

"Hales, I'm sure he's going to call soon. It's Lucas. He's never not called Jamie on his birthday."

"Yeah and he usually calls first thing in the morning. Like I said, it's now going on 4."

Nathan let out a sigh before saying "I thought you talked to Karen earlier and she said he was gone but would have him call as soon as he got back."

"She did."

"So, he's probably not back yet. You know how him and Peyton are. They've probably just lost track of time."

"Still, look at Jaime." she said pulling him towards the window, looking over the back yard "He's not even enjoying his birthday."

At first, Nathan was going to point out the fact that Jamie was running around, laughing with his friends, like a normal ten year old. That was until he notice the smile fade from his son's face as soon as he thought no one was paying attention. At that moment he knew exactly how his wife was feeling.

"Come here." he said pulling her into a hug "How about this? If he doesn't call today, you can book two plane tickets and we'll both beat his ass."

Haley softly laughed as she pulled out of his embrace "Deal."

"He's going to call tho."

"If he knows what's good for him, he will."

Nathan laughed as he turned around to tell her to come outside for a while, only to see her reaching for the phone again. Grabbing it first, he gave her a look, saying "How about you give him at least an hour to call back before leaving another threatening voicemail."

"Fine." she said, rolling her eyes but smiling at the same time.

"Did Uncle Lucas call yet?" Jamie's voice came from behind them.

Nathan whipped around as Haley stood on her tip-toes to see over his shoulder only to see their son's eyes focus solely on the phone that rested in Nathan's hand.

"Not yet but I'm sure he's about to call any minute."

Jamie forced a smile as he looked away from the phone to meet his parents concerned eyes, saying "Yeah, sure. No big deal."

Nathan and Haley shared a look wondering if they should try and make up an excuse for Lucas when the door bell broke through the silence, saving them from having to say anything.

"Wanna get the door Jamie. I'm sure it's for you any way." Haley said with a smile until Jamie was out of sight. The smile instantly fell from her face and she turned to her husband, saying "I'm going to kill him."

"Get in li-"

"Uncle Lucas!" Jamie exclaimed causing them to look in the direction of the front door.

"Hey, Jamie. Happy Birthday, bud." Lucas's voice traveled through the house causing them to run towards the door.

"Lucas!" Haley said as soon as she saw him. He dropped the bags at his feet just in time to catch her as she jumped into his arms for a tight hug.

"You know, she never greets me like that. I think I'm a little jealous." Nathan said pulling Peyton into a hug, smashing Sawyer in between them "Hey Sawyer. Long time no see."

"Hey Nate, it's been to long."

"Hi."

Peyton and Sawyer said at the same time, Sawyer a little softer then Peyton, causing them to look at each other.

"He said hi to me, Mommy." Sawyer said causing everyone to laugh lightly. Shyness came over her once she figured out everyone's attention was on her and she hided her face in Peyton neck.

"Figure's you'd give you're kid your last name. Always got to be difficult, don't you Saw- Peyton." Nathan joked as he pulled Luke into a 'man's hug' "What's up man?"

"Hey, You and Haley did the same thing." Peyton defended giving Haley a hug.

"Haven't you ever heard of being a leader not a foll-"

"What are you guy's doing here?" Haley asked cutting Nathan off knowing him and Peyton could carry on auguring for a while.

"Surprise." Luke said weakly.

"We thought we'd surprise Jamie for his birthday." Peyton went on to explain, sending a glare at Luke "But some how a surprise for Jamie turned into a surprise for everyone and Luke didn't bother to call and let anyone know we were coming."

"You're staying?" Haley asked noticing the bag's for the first time.

"Yeah, actually-" Luke said

"Great! Nathan help him take the bag's up to one of the guest rooms. The one with the other room across the hallway so Sawyer can be close." Haley interrupted "Come on. There's a lot of people in the back yard that want to see you two." she finished grabbing Peyton by the arm.

"Are you sure it's ok if we stay here? I know it's short notice. We could check into a hotel."

Haley stop and looked at Peyton, saying "Are you kidding me? You guy's are always welcome here. You can stay for your entire visit. There's no way in hell you're checking into a hotel."

"Thanks Hales." Peyton said giving her another hug.

"God look at you." Haley said to Sawyer. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nathan, Luke and Jamie, who finally had a real smile on his face, take the bags up the stairs "Do you remember me?"

Sawyer looked up at her mom before softly saying "Aunt Haley."

Haley laughed softly, saying "You have no idea who I am, do you?"

"Hales, I'm sorry. She knows about you, really. Luke and I talked to her about everyone all the time. She just hasn't seen you guy's in a while and the last time she did she was almost three and it's still unclear if she really remembers an-"

"Peyton, it's fine. Trust me, by the time you leave not only will she know who I am, I'll be her favorite aunt." Haley said before turning her attention back to Sawyer "That's right. I'm your Aunt Haley. Can I have a hug?"

Sawyer looked up a Peyton one more time before going to Haley. "God kid, you've gotten big." Haley said causing Sawyer to giggle and she didn't miss the relief that seem to wash over Peyton. Haley knew Peyton was going to be rushed once they stepped outside and decide it would be better now if she got Sawyer out of her hands. Besides, once the shock of Peyton being here wore off, Sawyer would be hogged by Brooke so she wanted to get some time in now.

"You ready for this?" she asked as she reach out for the door knob "Everyone's here and I'm pretty sure no one knew you guy's were coming. No one's been acting wired so that means…"

"Luke might have been able to keep a secret and their going to freak." Peyton finished "Where's Brooke?"

Haley looked out the window before saying "She'll be about twenty-feet to your right."

"Alright, just so I know where the biggest blow is coming from."

Peyton and Haley shared a laugh knowing that Brooke was going to jump Peyton as soon as she saw her. Finally, Haley turned the door knob and they walked out on to the deck. Surprisingly, they went unnoticed for a minute and Peyton saw the entire gang sitting off to the side at a table laughing and joking around. Kids, ranging from different ages, ran through the back yard. Some of them in the pool, as a lot of adult's, many Peyton didn't know, were scattered around and Peyton noticed how Sawyer watched with interest.

"Gezz, you'd think they would've noticed at least Jamie was missing." Haley said to Peyton as they came up behind the group "Hey guy's, look who I found."

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Sawyer's gotten big, man." Nathan said with a smile, shaking his head at the same time.

"Tell me about it." Luke said before turning and looking over at Jamie "Look at you. You've got to be as tall as your mom."

"Almost." Jamie grinned.

"Still palyin' ball?"

"Why do you even ask, Uncle Lucas." Jamie said rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, god Luke." Nathan joked as he opened a door.

"Sorry." Luke said with a laugh throwing his hands up in mocking surrendered as he looked around the room "This is nice."

"What can I say, the NBA pays pretty good."

"Not to mention the body spray ad's." Luke said with a smirk causing Nathan to roll his eyes.

"Just set the bags down and I'll show you Sawyer's room."

Luke laughed as he set the bag's down before following Nathan across the hallway so they could put Sawyer's bags in the other room.

"So, you up for the river court in the morning?" Luke asked Jamie.

"Let's go right now." Jamie suggested excitedly

Nathan laughed in the sudden change in Jamie's attitude before saying "Are you going to deal with your Mom if we skip out on your party?"

Jamie thought about it for a second before saying "The morning sounds good."

"You really are a genus, aren't you?" Luke joked

"Not wanting to piss off Haley is common sense." Nathan said

"Good thing he got that from his mom to, then." Luke smirked

"Uncle Luke?" Jamie asked "How long are you home for this time?"

"Yeah man, Hales kinda cut you off earlier."

"Actually, for good." Luke said

Nathan and Jamie simultaneously stopped and turned around to look at Luke.

"For good?" Nathan finally said.

"You're moving here?" Jamie asked

"Yeah. We didn't want to say anything right way because it's Jamie's party but yeah we're moving here back."

"When?" Jamie asked, running towards his uncle for a hug.

"Yeah, when?" Nathan said, reaching out for another 'man hug'.

"Well, now." Lucas laughed "Our stuff kind of arrives here in a couple of days and the rest of it is in storage so we're back for good. All we have to do is find a house."

"That's great man. Serisouly." Nathan said "Your more than welcome to stay here until you find a house. We have more then enough room."

"I was kinda hopping you would say that." Luke said "But can we wait until after the party to say anything?"

"Why?" Jamie asked

"Because this is your birthday party."

"Well, if it's my birthday, shouldn't I be able to tell everyone?" Jamie reasoned

"He's got you there, Luke."

"I guess, I mean if you really want to. But let me talk to Peyton first."

"Alright, but do it as soon as we get outside because I already know when I want to do it." Jamie said with a smile causing Luke and Nathan to laugh.


	3. Oh Honey, they're just visiting

Just a little warning, this story is un-beta so all mistakes are mine, sorry. Uninspired

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill….someone else does.

A/N: THANK YOU for the review's: crazyjan, SMCK110, RJMoonspel4, A Amanda A and kigal001. They mean a lot to me.

* * *

_**Oh Honey, they're just visiting…**_

"So, Mouth, Millie, when do you plan on having one of these?" Brooke asked, looking across the table at them before turning to attention back to Liz, who was bouncing up and down in her lap.

"Not any time soon." both of them replied at the same time causing everyone to laugh.

"I think we're just going to enjoy be married for a while." Mouth said resting his arm on the back of Millie chair.

"What about you Brooke Davi-"

"Baker." Julian inturrpted.

After they got married, legally Brooke changed her last name to Baker but for public apperances or anything that has to do with the company, she was still B. Davis. When they were home, away from the spotlight, she was known as Brooke Baker and she liked it that way.

"Sorry, we just got back from a fashion show. I was used to saying Davis." Millie said to Julian before turning her attention back to Brooke, saying "What about you two?"

"Yeah dawg, I thought for sure, shorty be knocked up on the honeymoon." Skills added

Brooke let out a laugh as Julian shook his head, with a smile on his face. It was no secert that Brooke badly wanted a family of her own but they'd decided, with their busy life styles, it was best to wait until things calmed down.

"After I'm done filming." Julian said causing Brooke to look at him, surpised "Well, I figured it be as good of time as any. You can run your company from here, I'll be home. Why wait, right?"

"What if another movie comes along?" Brooked asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I pass it up."

"Really?"

"Yeah, there'll be other movies and family more important, right?"

A smile crossed Brooke's face and she let out a little squeal before leaned towards him to give him a kiss "Good answer" her raspy voice whispered before she captured his lips with hers.

"He said after the movie." Skills pointed out when their PG kiss strated to escalated towards R "There's kids around, you know."

"What about you two?" Brooke asked when she finally pulled away from Julian, looking between Lauren and Skills.

"I would prefer to get one of theses first." Lauren joked as she pointed to rings that adorn Brooke's left ring finger.

"Well, you could always go the Luke and Peyton route. Ask her to marry you, knock her up, then give her the ring, then get married and give birth on the same day."

"First, don't be givin' her any idea's." Skills said pointing a finger in Brooke's direction "Second, my man Luke was just making up for lost time."

"That's for sure. Once he found out about Julian and Peyton, it was over with. Seriously, wasn't she pregnant like…two week's…later…" Mouth trailed off seeing the glares Brooke and Julian were sending him "I'm going to shut up now."

"Good idea." Brooke said with a nod of her head

"Hey guy's," Haley's voice came from behind them "look who I found."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief as the conversation stopped and six heads turned towards Haley only to stare in shock at who stood next to her.

"Hey." Peyton said giving everyone a small wave.

Haley knew it was only a matter of seconds before the shock wore off and that's when she notice her one in a half year old in Brooke's arms. Looking over at Julian, she said "LIZ."

That broke Julian trance and he reached over and took the small child out of Brooke's hands. Just in time too, as she let out a squeal, running towards her best friend and jumping at her, wrapping her arms tightly around Peyton neck.

"P. Sawyer, you're here."

"B. Davis, god I've missed you." Peytonsaid laughing as she wrapped her arms just as tightly around her, taking a few steps back to steadied herself. They pulled away from each other just enough to look each other in the face as they said at the same time.

"P. Scott."

"B. Baker."

Everyone burst out laughing as the two friend pulled each other in for a tight hug again. The group stood back for a minute, letting the best friends have their little moment before Mouth stepped in, saying "Alright, quit hogging her."

Haley laughed as she watched Peyton go from one person to the other, giving them each a hug, even Laruen, who she really didn't know that well.

"Aunt Haley?" Sawyer asked softly

"What sweeite?"

"Why does everyone keep calling Mamma, my name? Are they confused?"

Haley let out a little laugh, saying "Honey, that was your Mom's last name. A lot of people call her Sawyer."

"But that's my name." Sawyer exclaimed, still not understanding what was going on. As far as she knew, her mom's last name was Scott, like her. So it took her a second to noticed that she had gotten everyone's attention.

"Oh my god," Brooke said grabbing Peyton's arm "That can't be little Brooke."

Peyton laughed at the nick-name, wishing Luke was around so she could see his face the frist time he hears Brook say that. "That's her."

Sawyer looked between her mom and 'Aunt Brooke' like they had lost their mind. Not only was everyone call her mom by her name but Brooke was now calling her by her middle name.

"Let me see her." Brooke demanded reach out for the little girl.

"No way," Haley said turning her body so Sawyer was out of her grasp "I just got her."

"Come on, Haley. I haven't seen her in a year."

"Neither have I. Besides, she's my god-daugther.

"Oh, you so didn't not just try and rub my face in that." Brooke said astoundingly "Besides, she's named after me. Now, give her up."

"Speaking of god-daughters, where's mine?" Peyton asked stepping in between Brooke and Haley when she saw her daughter's terrified face.

"Here you go." Julian said

"Hey Elizabeth," Peyton cooed the young child "I'm you're Aunt Peyton."

Sawyer sat up in Haley's arms, crossing her arms over her chest, squinit her eyes at the baby in her mom's arms.

"She look's just like Luke when she does that." Haley laughed

Peyton looked over at them before letting out a little laugh. Taking a few steps towards them, she gave Sawyer a kiss on her forehead before saying "This is your cousin Liz, baby."

Sawyer looked from the baby to Peyton before laying her head on Peyton shoulder, wrapping her little arms around her neck, saying "My Mamma" causing a light chuckle to escape from Brooke and Haley.

"Not to interrupted this little love fest," Skills said motion towards the women "But isn't somebody missing?"

"Oh, Jamie carry the bags up stiars. They should be down here soon." Haley said

"Well, I was talking about Luke but yeah, J-Luke missing too." Skills joked

"You know, I'm really not surprised you didn't noticed." Haley said rolling her eyes.

"Hey, you should know by now, not to ask me to keep an eye that that kid. He always escapes."

Brooke, who had keep a eye on the situation, creeped up behind Haley and successfully scooped Sawyer out of her arms.

"Hey!" Haley protested

Brooke, of course, ignored her, walked a few feet away and gave Sawyer a smile, saying "Hey there, Little Brooke."

Sawyer looked around like she was trying to figure out what just happened and Peyton was bitting her lower lip in actiapation of the little girls reaction. She looked wide eye at Brooke and blurted out the first thing she could think of .

"Daddy doesn't like the dresses you send me."

Brooke looked shocked for a second but quickly recovered, and a smiled crossed her face as she said "Well, Your Daddy had no fashion sense what so ever. So, really, your Daddy not liking them, is a good thing. It's when your Daddy start to like them that we have to worry, Little Brooke."

"It's not that I don't like the dresses." Lucas said, walking up behind them "I think their beautiful. It's just that you design these dress with a young women in mind and then shrink them down to fit my toddler."

"Trust me, you ain't seen nothing yet."

"You havn't seen anything, yet." Haley interrupted

Brooke rolled her eyes as she turned around to face Luke, saying "I already have her formal dresses in mind. You know, like prom and all those wonderful high schools dances, that I know guy's will be lining up to ask her to."

"Oh god." Luke groaned

"And don't even get me started on her wedding gown-"

"You might want to stop her now." Haley cut in "She's headed down a very, _very_ bad road right now." she finshed, smiling at Brooke before walking towards the house.

"Hey, you loved the second dress I made for you." Brooke yelled after her before sending a smile at Luke "Hey Luke."

"Hey Brooke." He said with a smile as he pulled her into a hug As he pulled away, he skillfully took Sawyer with him, send a quick look at Peyton before saying "Her name's Sawyer."

"Ah, but her middle name is Brooke, there for Little Brooke." She replied, not missing a beat.

He shook his head with a smile on his face, rubbing Sawyer's back soothingly. It was obvious that she was a little frizzle about what was going on and the relief was evident in her voice when she whisper "Daddy" against his neck. He softly kissed the side of Sawyer head before turning his attention past Brooke, for the first time and a smile crossed his face when he seen his childhood friends.

"Skills." he said walking around Brooke.

"Luke, my man." he said giving a pat on the back "I gotta tell ya, this was a nice surprise."

"The coolest." Jamie grinned

Luke let out a laugh, saying "Yeah, it's been to long."

The greeting continued and they eventually sat down around the table, catching up on each others lives. Haley returned a short time later with two plates of food in her hands. Placing them down in front of Luke and Peyton, she explain that everyone had ate already but thought they might be hungry, figuring Sawyer would just pick from their plates. Jamie showed up next to Luke, a short time later, declaring he needed the 'other Scott's' help out on the basketball court. Honeslty, he didn't think the four year old would be any good but he thought she might want to get away from the adults and play with kids, even if they were a little old then her. It wasn't five minutes later, the adults heard Jamie exclaim "Alright Sawyer" followed by her unmistakable giggle.

It was a little while later that Haley announced it was time for cake. Jamie and Sawyer walked, hand and hand, towards the table she had placed the cake on. Sawyer, immediately found Lucas and pulled down on his hand, indicating she wanted to be picked up. As he leaned down, Jamie whispered something in his ear. Lucas, in return, stood up and whispered something in Peyton's ear. Peyton, who looked at Jamie, shrugged her shoulder's and smiled at him, giving him a slight nodded. That's when Jamie's face lit up with excitement for the first real time that night, letting Brooke, who had been watching the entire sence unfold, know something was up.

"Telling secert's isn't fair." She whined "I wanna know what's going on."

Most of the group looked at her like they didn't know what she was talking about but Jamie gave her a smile before saying, "It's nothing."

"Uh huh." she said, eyeing Luke, Peyton and Jamie. She knew something going on and was determined to find out what it was but willing to let it go for now.

They started in to a round of Happy Birthday and Lucas, who had Sawyer securely in his arms, made his way to stand beside Nathan, who had a video camera in his hand, unnoticed. Liz was in Nana Debs arms, who stood on the other side of Nathan. Peyton stood behind Jamie with Haley and Brooke at her sides. The rest of the group was gathered around the table.

"I thought Haley broke that thing." Luke whispered to Nathan.

He let out a soft chukle before saying "I bought a new one."

"Please just tell me you have the tapes under lock and key. The last thing I want to do is pop a video in and see you and Haley. It was bad enough thinking it was Peyton and seeing that it was Brooke. I don't need to see Haley like that."

"Are you kidding, man? She doesn't let this thing get near the bedroom." Nathan said "Besides, why would you be watching a video. It's all about the DVD's now a day's."

Lucas laughed, shaking his head at his brother as the song came to an end.

"Alright Jamie, make" Haley started to say when Jamie immediately blew out the candles "a wish. That was kind of quick buddy, did you even have time to make a wish?"

"I don't need to. My wish has already came true."

Haley laughed at her son, asking "Oh yeah. Well, if it's came true already, you can tell us what it was."

"Okay." Jamie said

Everyone stared at him, expectedly. When he didn't elaborate, Brooke's raspy voice said "What was it?"

"Oh, for Uncle Lucas and Aunt Peyton to move back to Tree Hill."

Haley gave her son a sad smile, rubbing the back of his head, saying "Oh Honey, they're just visting. Their not moving back here."

"No Mom, they're really staying. Uncle Lucas told me upstairs."

This time everyone's eyes shot to either Lucas or Peyton who both, weakly said "Surprise."

Haley and Brooke let out an ear piercing scream as they jumped at Peyton with such force that it knocked all three of them to the floor. Thhe sqeals continued over the laughter and the group gave them a minute before Skills and Julian reached down to help the three of them back to their feet. The questions started flying out so fast that it was hard to tell whether Brooke or Haley was asking.

"Since when?"

"Do you have to go back?"

"Where all your stuff?"

"Do you have a house yet?"

"Why?"

"I knew living on a boat would get to you soon or later."

"It's about damn time."

"Alright, alright." Lucas said "We're hear for good. Our stuff comes in a coulpe of day's. No, we haven't found a house yet but this is Jamie's birthday so can we get back to celebrating that."

"Fine." Haley said pulling Luke in to a tight hug "but later I want details."

_***One Tree Hill***_

After everyone ate, way more cake then they should have, Jamie opened his presents. It wasn't to long after that, that the party started to wind down and guset strated to leave. The gang sat out by the pool as Sawyer and Jamie swam. The sun had disappeared long ago but still no one could bring themselves to tell them to get out. They want to catch up just as bad as the kids wanted to stay up past bed time. Mouth and Millie were the first to say good-bye followed by Skills and Lauren. Juilan left about an hour before, having to catch an early flight to LA. He told Brooke to stay, saying he could get himself to the airport this one time.

"Really?" Haley asked, suddenly sitting up, looking over at Lucas.

"What?" he asked, looking over at her, confused.

"You're really staying?"

He laughed, tuning his attention back to the pool, saying "Yeah Hales, we're really staying."

"I'll believe it once they're here longer then a week." Brooke said with a smile, from her chiar on the other side of Peyton and Luke.

"I'll believe it when they buy a house." Nathan added, pulling Haley back down so she was, once again, resting against his chest.

"Hey," Peyton said with a laugh "I think I'm kinda offended here. We wouldn't joke about moving back home."

Sawyer's giggles, once again, broke through the night air causing them to focus their attention back to the pool and a smile appeared on everyone of their faces.

"She swim's pretty good for only being four." Nathan pointed out.

"The day she took her first step, she almost walked off the side of the boat. The next day Andy, Luke and Lilly had her in the water with a life vest teaching her how to swim."

"All the more reason to live on dry land, instead of a boat." Brooke said innocently, sending a smile at Luke and Peyton.

"So, what made you decided to finally come home?" Haley laughed

"Peyt said she wanted to come home, so here we are." Luke said

"Hey," Peyton said as she sat up and smacked him in the chest "You make it sound like I forced you to do this."

"Okay, okay," he laughed, rubbing the spot on his chest "_both_ of us wanted to come home, Sawyer startes pre-school in the fall and I don't know. I guess we just wanted to…come home."

"Well, I personally don't care why. All that matter's is that you're hear now." Haley said standing up "And I need more wine."

"Me too." Peyton said standing up from Luke's lap.

"And I need to get going before I drink to much wine." Brooke said

"Oh you can crash here if you want." Haley immediately offered

"Not that I wouldn't love to because believe me, I do. But I kind of want to spend the night with my husband before he leaves tomorrow. Rain check tho?"

"Defiantly." Peyton said giving her a sidways hug.

"Hey little Scott's" Brooke said getting Sawyer and Jamie's attention "I'm going to take off. I'll see you guy's tomorrow."

"Bye, Aunt Brooke." they called out before going back to splashing each other.

"Gentlemen." Brooke said with a wink before giving them a each a kiss on the cheek "Have a nice night. Ladies, walk me to the door."

Haley and Peyton laughed as they took her out stretched hands in their own and followed her into the house, their laughter slowly faded as they got closers to the front door. Nathan and Luke enjoyed silence as the watched the kids play in the pool. They weren't sure how much time had past but eventually they heard Peyton and Haley laughing from the kitchen.

"It's really good to have you home, man." Nathan said, taking a drink of his beer before looking over at Luke.

"Yeah, long over do."

Nathan nodded in agreement before saying "It's kinda cool, you know."

"What's that?"

"Jamie, Sawyer and Liz, they're going to get to grow up together now."

Luke let out a little laugh as he nodded his head "Yeah, that's one of the perks."

"Daddy, I'm all done." Sawyer said through a yawn as she walked towards him

"Look's like someone ready for bed."

"She's had a long day. I'm surprised she's stayed up this long." Luke said as he wrapped a towel around her before standing up, picking her up in the process.

"Come on Jamie. It's time to go in."

Jamie got out of the pool, grabbing a towel as he followed them into the house to see Haley and Peyton sitting at the kitchen table laughing. Their re-filled glass of wine, half gone.

"You tired, baby?" Peyton asked Sawyer, who had her head rested against Luke's shoulder. Sawyer merely nodded her head as she leaned forward to give her a kiss good-night, which Peyton happily obliged to. "She needs to take a shower first." Peyton said looking up at Luke.

"I'm on it." he said giving her a kiss on the forehead before looking at Haley "Night Hales."

"Night." she said as she watched him walk out of the kitchen.

"I think you could use a shower before you go to bed, too."

"But Dad."

"Your Dad's right, Jamie. You've been in the pool all day." Haley said

"Fine," he said giving in, saying good night to his mom and dad. It surprised Peyton when he wrapped his arms around her, saying "I'm glad you're home, Aunt Peyton."

"Aww, me to Bud." Peyton said returning the hug "I'll see you in the morning, alright."

Jamie nodded his head, saying "Night guy's" before walking towards the stairs.

"Well, I'm going to head up to. Try not to drink all the wine we have in the house." he joked

"Well, your mom's not here so I think we'll be ok." Haley said with a sweet smile causing Peyton to laugh.

"Yeah, but I've seen both of you drink and trust me you could give her a run for her money."

"Hey." Haley said giving him a face that clearly said she was offened by his remark causing Peyton to giggle.

Nathan laughed, giving Haley a quick kiss before placing a kiss on Peyton cheek "Night ladies."

"Night." they repeated as he walked out of sight.

"I am so not a lush. Deb could drink me under the table any day. Well, if she was still drinking." Haley defended herself.

"Depends on what type of mood I'm in." Peyton replied

Haley laughed as she grabbed the bottle of wine and filled up their glasses. They weren't sure how long they've been down in the kitchen, talking, after everyone left but by the time Lucas and Sawyer voiced called for Mamma, the bottle of wine had been emptyed.

"I guess that's my cue." Peuyton said as both her and Haley stood up, stumbling a little.

"Ah, the best part about wine is you don't know how drunk you are, until you stand up." Haley said with a giggle.

"I hear ya, sister."

Haley laughed as they walked out of the kitchen, heading towards the stairs. They both fell to the floor laughing again, when Haley, unexpectedly jumped into Peyton's arms again, saying "I'm so glad you're home."

"Me too, Hales. Me too."

_***One Tree Hill***_

Lucas voice trailed off softly when he looked down to see Sawyer sleeping peacefully against his chest. Once he got her out of the shower, she refused to get into bed until Peyton came upstairs to tuck her in. Finally getting his stubborn daughter to compromise, he suggested they lay down and he would read to her until Peyton got there. He held back the laughter when he saw her fighting to keep her eyes open and knew it was going to be a miracle if she stay awake long enough to say good-night to her mom.

"I know it didn't take me that long." Petyon whispered from the doorway, leaning againt the frame.

Lucas had a smile on his face as his eye's travled to the clock "No, only twenty minutes."

"Serisouly?" she asked, genuinely surprised that it took her and Haley that long to get upstairs.

He softly laughed as he maneuvered himself out from behind Sawyer. They both froze in place as she stirred a little in her sleep before cuddling even futher in to the sheet's. He walked towards the door as Peyton pushed herself off of the door frame, walking further into the room.

"Hey," he said, grabbing her around the waist "Where are you going? Our room's across the hall."

"I know," she said sending him a look "I'm saying good-night to our daugther."

"Don't wake her up." he warned

"Yes, Dad." she said sending him a smile before walking towards the bed, placing a softly kiss on Sawyer's forehead before saying "Night baby girl."

"Nigh, Mamma." Sawyer mumbled in her sleep as she rolled on to her side.

Sending a triumph smile in Lucas's driction, she walked past him, heading towards their room. He stood there stunned for a moment before following after her only to see her under the blankets.

"I loved spending these last couple of years with your Mom, Andy and Lily." Peyton mumbled against her pillow when he walked into the room "but you don't know how happy I am to sleep in a bed that's going to sleep both of us comfortably."

Lucas let out a little laugh as he stripped down to his boxer's before climbing into bed next to her, saying "I was the one getting my ass kicked every night."

She sat up on her elbows, glaring at him in the dark room, saying "I was not that bad."

"No, of course you weren't that bad. The doctor said you almost broke my noise." he joked as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

"Luke!"

"And don't worry, I lied to my mom when she asked where I got that black eye."

"Lucas!" she said pulling away from him, sending him a glare once again.

"Come here." He said as placed a hand on her cheek, leaning in and giving her a kiss that always's left a smile on her face. When he pulled away, a smirk crossed his face as he said "Besides, I'd gladly wake up the rest of my life with a black eye, if it mean's you'll be waking up next to me."

"Aww, Luke, that is the sweatest, meanest thing you've ever said to me." she said giving him a quick kiss before saying "Wait no, the meanest went a little something like '_I hate you, you ruined my life.' _Something like that the wording might be a little off." She finished sending him a sweet smile.

He gave her a look, letting her know that he didn't find her funny and she giggle as she rested her head on his bare chest, listen to his heart beat. This was her saving grace. No matter what was going on in her life, no matter what kind of fight her and Luke could have been having at the time or how bad her day could have been going, when she laid her head on his chest, the exact second that sound echoed through her ears, she was at peace.

"I love you, you know that, right?" she could hear the guilt in his voice and started to feel bad.

She didn't mean anything by it. Honestly, she was joken, after all that happen years ago and a couple of day's later, they were on a plane to Vegas. It's all water under the bridge as far as she was concerned. Besides, that was their thing. To say I hate you one day and declared their undying love the next. They wouldn't be them if it didn't happen that way but she had to admit she was enjoying the less dramatic couple they've come to be over the last four years.

"Mmm," she said before placing a kiss on his chest "You better."

He let out a soft laugh as he wrapped his arm around her tighter, bring her closers to him before placing a soft kis on top of her head. Resting his free hand behind his head, he staried at the ceiling softly saying "You looked happy today."

She looked up at him, giving him a smiling saying "I was. It's good to be home." Getting comfortable, once again against his chest "Hey Luke?"

"Hmm…" he said, reasing his eyebrow but not opening his eyes.

"You're happy, right?"

"Of course I'm happy." he said looking down at her.

"I mean about moving here. I know it was sudden and everything else but-"

"Peyton," he said cutting her off "I'm glad we finally came home. It's time to start living life again, right?"

"Yeah." she said traceing invisible pattaners against his chest.

"Get some sleep, babe." he said running his fingers through her hair.

She smiled as she closed her eyes and slowly started to drift to sleep "Luke?" she mumbled

"Hmm."

"Everything's going to be ok, right?"

Once again, he placed a soft kiss on the top of her head, saying "Yeah, everything's going to be alright."

He felt her place another kiss on his chest and it wasn't long before he felt her steady breath's there also. But as he laid there, wide awake staring at the ceiling, he wonder just how much longer their lives would remain drama free. After all, this was Tree Hill.


	4. This is the place

Just a little warning, this story is un-beta so all mistakes are mine, sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill…someone else does.

A/N: Thank you to all of those who reviewed: AnnOTH21, xxsummerxx, cayt326, RJMoonspell4, mahsa, crazyjan, MichelleBell16, and mkrunner. As always, I love the feedback.

MichelleBell16, crazyjan and mahsa, I love that you told me you're favorite parts of the chapter. I wasn't to sure about some of the last chapter and once I read your reviews, it made me feel better.

* * *

_**This is the place…**_

Sawyer sat up, looking around the unfamiliar room, confused. She knew immediately that she wasn't in her room on the boat or a hotel room.. It took a few seconds but it dawned on her where she was and that infamous Scott smirk found it's way across her face. Throwing the blankets off of her, she jumped to the floor and made her way across the hall, as quietly as possible. Peaking into the room, she saw her Mom and Dad sleeping peacefully in their bed and the smirk grew. She knew if her Dad was still sleeping, it was early and everyone one else would probably still be sleeping, her Dad always got up first. She's been itching to explore this big old house since they walked through the door yesterday. And here was her chance.

Tip-toeing away from the door, she walked half way down the hall before she started to walk normal again. There was no chance she was going to risk waking someone up. Her eye's danced around the walls as she took everything in. This was the first time, that she could remember, actually being in a house and this one was huge. Suddenly, she stopped and looked over her shoulder thinking maybe it wasn't such a good idea for her to wander around. She didn't want to get lost.

Then her adventurous side took over and she continued on her way. Walking down the stairs, she walked through the living room, down another hallway, peaking in any open door, examining the room before walking back out. Stopping at any picture she saw a long the way and looking it over before moving on. Reaching the end of the hallway, she seen a door opened a crack and her curiosity got the better of her. Looking in, she seen stairs going down with a light at the bottom. Her mind was screaming at her not to go down there but Sawyer looked over her shoulder, to make sure no one was around before her foot took a step and then another and another until she found herself standing at the bottom of the stair's. It was silent for a second then she heard a grunt.

By now, most little girls would be terrified and run back up the stairs but not Sawyer Brooke Scott. No, she walked further into the room only to find it empty. Then she heard it again. Another grunt before the sound of metal hitting metal. Walking further into the room, she saw Nathan sitting on a bench, pulling a bar down, holding it for a second, and letting up. Sawyer stood there, not knowing what else to do and watched as he reached down to pickup the towel that laid at his feet before whipping off his forehead. Finally, he looked up and jumped a little when he saw her standing there.

"Hey Sawyer." he said pulling out the ear-phone "What are you doing down here?"

Sawyer looked around the room scared. She knew she wasn't supposed to wandering around by herself without telling her Mom and Dad where she was going. They told her that after they found her on the dock. Nathan recognized the '_oh crap, I'm in trouble look' _look that passed over her face.

"It's no big deal." he quickly said trying to reassure the young girl in front of him.

Sawyer stood there, staring at him and he laughed a little when he saw her attire. Her wild blonde curls fell around her shoulders and she had a black tank-top on that had a picture of a glittery guitar on it with a matching pair of boxer shorts. Everyone said she look so much like Lucas and she did but at that moment, Nathan thought she was a spitting image of Peyton. She looked exactly the way he'd always picture Peyton's little girl. Right down to the blue eyes because honestly, what other color would they have been. The minute Peyton and Brooke showed up at his house, all those years ago, he knew her and Luke would end up together, whether Lindsay was in the picture or not. Okay, it might not have been the exacted minute she showed up, he was in a dark place at the time. But once he made it to the light, he knew.

"Why are you up so early?" he asked trying to break the awkward silence.

"The sun's up." she said like it was the most obvious answer.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

A smile found it's way on to her face as she took in her surroundings. Haley told him, as the laid in the bed the night before, that Sawyer really didn't remember anybody and that she might be a little shy. But as he watched her, he'd say she was more curios then anything. Finally, her eyes rested on him again.

"Wanna try?" he asked motioning towards the weight bench.

"I'm to little, Uncle Nate." she said with a giggle.

"Nah," he said standing up and reaching out his hand for her to come over "I bet you can do it."

Sawyer squinted her eyes as she tried to figure out whether he was joking or not but finally walked over and sat on the seat, reaching her hand's above her head "See, I can't reach."

"I'll fix that." He said, helping her stand on the seat. He walked behind her and pulled the bar down far enough for her to reach it, saying "Got it?"

"Uh huh." she said

"Alright, you gotta pull it down below your chin and hold it there for a minute then let it go. Okay?"

"Got it." she said as she started to pull down with all her might.

Nathan was biting the inside of his cheek to stop the laugh that wanted to escape. "Come on Sawyer. You're a Scott. You can do this." he encouraged until he realized he kind of sound like Dan. Then he realized, Dan would have let go of the bar by now and he didn't feel as bad.

He stood behind her, keeping a firm grip on the bar so she wouldn't hurt herself. Suddenly she let it go, catching Nathan off guard and causing the weights to slam down with a loud bang causing them both to jump.

"I did it, Uncle Nate." she exclaimed

"See, told you." Nathan said "Show me your muscle."

Sawyer did her best to flex her arm and she looked up at him.

"Wow." he exclaimed as he pinched her upper arm "I'm pretty sure your's are bigger then your Dad's."

Sawyer eyes went wide and she started shaking her head back and fourth saying "Daddy's got really big muscle. He can pick up Momma with one arm."

"That's not hard." he said with a laugh "You're Mom's pretty light."

"She's heavier then me." Sawyer said

Nathan laughed at the fact that Sawyer just insinuated that Peyton was fat, twice. "You wanna get something to eat?"

Sawyer nodded as she took his hand to jump down. He shook he head as she pulled him towards the stairs, wondering what in the hell Haley was talking about. Sawyer seemed fine to him.

"Alright kid," he said as he picked her up, sitting her on the counter before grabbing a box of pop tarts down. He handed her a foiled package before grabbing one out for himself. Hopping onto the other counter, he looked over at Sawyer, who was staring at the package confused. "What?"

"Aren't you going to warm it up first, Daddy does." Sawyer said as she held the package out for him to take.

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Hey, Luke…Oh God." Haley said walking into the bedroom only to turn around and walking back out when she saw Lucas standing there, rummaging through his suitcase, freshly showered with a towel around his waist "I'm so sorry. I should have knocked first."

He was shocked at first but then started to laugh and quickly pull on some boxer's and basketball short's saying "You can come in now."

"You're dressed?"

"Yeah."

"In more than a towel?" she said as her hand reached for the door knob.

"Yeah."

"Alright, I'm coming in." She wasn't sure why she announced it but she shuddered when she had a flashback to what happen before "I'm so sorry, Luke. I mean I just assumed that you and Peyton would be…wait a minute. Where's Peyton?" she asked when she noticed the emptied bed. Her eyes traveled from the bed to the closed door of the guest bathroom.

"Really, Luke. In the guest bathroom? You are so cleaning the shower before you leave." Haley said as a look of disgust crossed her face.

He looked at her confused for a second before it dawned on him what she thought happen in the bathroom and that oh so familiar smirk appeared as he tried to hold back the laughter.

"This is so not funny Lucas." she whined "Other people have to use that bathroom."

He was going to corrected her, as soon as he stopped laughing but Peyton walked out of the bathroom, dressed in a cute strapless summer dress, not really looking like she just got out of the shower.

"What's so funny?" she asked with a s mile on her face when she saw Luke.

"Haley thinks we just had sex in the shower." he said before Haley could say anything.

"Eww, Haley. Do you know how many other people have probably had sex in that shower?"

Haley, who was clearly embarrassed, mumbled some sort of apology before turning to walk out of the room.

"Hey, Hales?"

"Yeah Luke?" she said turning around

"What'd you need?"

"Huh?"

"Why'd you come up here in the first place?"

"Oh yeah," She said pointing over her shoulder "Jamie wanted to know if you're ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'll be down in a second."

Haley nodded as she started to walk backwards towards the door. She gave them a look before saying "Again, sorry" before turning around and walking down the hallway.

Luke pulled a t-shirt over his head, he walked up behind Peyton, wrapping his arms around her waist, kissing her neck softly before saying "Are you going to tell her she was right?"

"Hell no," Peyton said looking over her shoulder at him "There's no way I'm cleaning the shower."

He laughed, giving her a quick kiss before walking towards the door, asking "Are you going to TRIC?"

She nodded her head, saying "Haley's got a couple of demo's she want's me to listen to."

"Are you taking Sawyer or do you want me to?"

"It's no big deal. Ask her."

"Okay." he said walking out of the room.

He walked across the hallway to the room where Sawyer stuff was and grabbed her some clothes before walking down stairs. As he walked towards the kitchen, Jamie and Sawyer coming running around the corner, almost colliding with Luke.

"Daddy." Sawyer exclaimed

"Finally, are you ready to go Uncle Lucas?"

"Almost Jamie." he said as he handing the clothes to Sawyer, nodding his head towards the bathroom "You need to get dressed."

Jamie ran off to grab his shoe's while Sawyer made a face but took the clothes from him and walked towards the bathroom.

"Call me you if need help." He said only to have the door shut in his face.

Laughter caught his attention and he looked up to see Nathan standing there with a smirk on his face.

"Just wait." Luke warned as he walked into the kitchen "Liz will be acting like that before you can blink."

The laughter immediately stopped and a horrified expression crossed Nathan's face. His face seem to relax a bit and he shook his head, saying "Liz is like Haley."

"Yeah, the girl that threw a drink on and then slap a girl, when she was what 5, 6 months pregnant. Or how about the time she started a fight with another mom because her son was picking on Jamie. Or how about the time-"

"Alright, I get it. Get use to door's slamming in my face." Nathans said cutting Luke off "What's that all about anyway?"

"Oh, she's just in this faze where she likes to dress herself and she get's mad when we, well when I pick out her clothes."

"You?"

"Yeah, she's fine when Peyton does it but when I bring her clothes, she get's mad."

Haley shook her head and laughed softly from the other side of the kitchen, where she sat eating breakfast and helping Liz eat, as she listen to Luke and Nathan talk about the joy's of having a daughter.

"Jamie was so…easy. He occupied himself and never slammed doors." Nathan said shaking his head in disbelief "I just kinda figured Liz would be the same way."

"Well, that's because Jamie's like me." Lucas said with a smirk.

"God, I hope not." Nathan said causing Haley to laugh out loud.

"Hey." Luke said offended.

"Sorry," she said walking towards the sink "it's just that you sometimes have a hard time making up your mind and it makes everyone else lives…crazy."

"Ha ha." Luke said as he turned to go check on Sawyer only to see her standing in the doorway.

Nathan's slight chuckle/cough caught Haley's attention. He nodded his head towards the door and she peaked around Luke to see Sawyer standing there, grinning proudly with her shirt on backwards.

"There's no questions that she's your's Luke."

"You're just hilarious today, Hales." he said as he bent down to help Sawyer turn her shirt around.

"I try." she said, sending him a smile as she clean Liz's hands and face. Picking her up out of the high-chair, she walked over Nathan and handed Liz to him, asking "What time are you guy's leaving for the river court?"

"As soon as Jamie get's back with his shoes on." Nathan said before looking back to Liz saying "You're never going to slam a door in Daddy's face right?"

A giggle escaped from her as she exclaimed "Dada."

"That's right," he said "And you're never going to throw a drink on someone because you'll never be at a party in the first place."

"Oh, god." Haley laughed as she started to walk towards the door, turning around, she said "You know, I'm so glad I get to see the look on both your faces when they bring home the same boy's that you used to be. Karma a bitc…well, ya you know."

Nathan and Luke's faces paled slightly at the thought of Sawyer and Liz dating someone even remotely close the way they were in high school. At that moment, Peyton showed up standing next to Haley. She looked at Nathan and Luke before looking to her right only to see a smirk on Haley's face.

"I'm so sorry for the way I treated you in high school." Nathan and Lucas blurted out, both looking directly at Peyton.

"What did you say?" Peyton asked looking over at Haley.

"Come on, I'll explain on the way." Haley laughed walking towards the door.

"Actually Haley," Peyton said "I think I'll drive myself." she turned to look at Nathan saying "I just need the key's."

"You're not driving my Range Rover." Nathan said, making a face "You were a bad driver four years ago and only god knows how many times you have actually drove a car in the past four years so there is no way in he-"

"She's talking about her car, Nate." "Lucas sad cutting him off "The Comet."

"Oh." Nathan said looking down

"What did you do?" Peyton immediately asked

"Noth-"

"Please tell me you didn't crash that car." Lucas said "You know how long it took me to rebuild it the first time."

"Hey." Peyton said, think that was a jab at her "That was not my fau-"

"Enough." Haley exclaimed causing everyone to shut up "Nothing happen to that stupid car. Nathan's had the key's to both cars locked in his office. The only one to drive them was him and that was just to make sure…Well, I'm not to sure why. Nathan just go get the damn key's."

Nathan was laughing as he hand Liz back over to Haley before he turned to walk towards his office. Sawyer was looking at Haley, wide eyed, Lucas was mumbling something under his breath and Peyton was running her fingers threw Sawyer's hair, pulling it back into a ponytail so it would be out of her face, muttering under her breath "It's not a stupid car."

"Where's Dad?" Jamie said walking into the kitchen, holding a basketball under his arm.

"He just went to grab Peyton's key's. He'll be right back." Looking back to Peyton, she said "I'll just meet you at TRIC."

Peyton nodded as Haley walked out of the kitchen followed closely by Jamie. Looking down at Sawyer, she asked "What about you, baby girl? Do you want to go with me or your Dad?"

Sawyer looked between Peyton and Luke as she tried to decide who she wanted to go with. Over the years, she's heard a lot about the river court and TRIC and now she had a chance to go to both but she had to choose one and she didn't think that was very fair.

"I'll take her with me and drop her off at TRIC after we leave." Lucas suggested seeing the uncertain look that crossed Sawyer face.

Sawyer's face light up at that and she nodded her head as a huge smile found it's way on to her face.

"Alright, I'll go put the toddler seat in Nathan car." Lucas said before leaning over and giving Peyton a kiss "I'll see you later."

"Alright," she mumbled against his lips giving him another quick kiss before pulling away.

Luke scooped up Sawyer in his arms, causing her to giggle. Peyton shook her head as she heard him trying, once again, to explain basketball to Sawyer.

"She's never liked it before. Just because you're taking her to the river court doesn't mean she'll suddenly fall in love with it." Peyton called out.

She heard Lucas pause for a minute before continuing like she hadn't said anything. Peyton rolled her eyes as Nathan came around the corner, holding the key's out in front of him.

"It's in the garage."

Peyton smiled as she took the key's out of his hands and took off towards the garage, Nathan closely behind her. He hit the button to open the garage door as she stood in front of the covered Comet. Pulling up the ends of the car cover, Peyton pulled it off , wrapping it up into a ball and dropped it to the floor as she stared at her car for a couple of seconds.

"Hey baby," she said running her hand across the white lather of the drop top "Mamma's missed you."

"Want me to give you a minute?" Nathan asked, with a smirk on his face.

"Don't you have some where to go?" Peyton said glaring at him.

"Come on Dad." Jamie said from the car where him, Luke and Sawyer sat, waiting.

Nathan laughed, saying "I just gave her an oil change and she has a full tank of gas. You should be good to go, Sawyer."

Peyton nodded her head as she walked around the car, opening the driver side door and getting in. She knew Haley was waiting for her but a little drive couldn't hurt. She started the car and immediately put the top down, stepping down on the gas a little bring the engine to life while gripping the steering wheel. _A little drive never hurt anyone_, she thought as she back the car out of the garage.

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Uncle Nathan" Sawyer asked as he helped her get out of the car "What's Daddy doing?"

Nathan looked at Lucas, who was standing in the middle of the court, eye's closed as he took a deep breath. Letting out a soft laugh, he said "He's just taking it all in."

Sawyer looked between the two of them and came to the conclusion that both her uncle and her dad had lost their mind. She walked over to Jamie, who stood on the side of the court and looked around confused. When ever she heard about the river court, someone was saying how it was a 'special ' place and she really didn't understand why.

Looking up at Jamie, she said "It's just a basketball court."

Three pairs of eye instantly focused on Sawyer.

"This is not just a basketball court." Jamie started

"This is the place where I first beat my little brother at basketball." Luke said

"Hey, I let you win that game." Nathan augured before looking back at Sawyer "This is the place where I realized I might actually like my big brother."

"This is the one place you can come to and no matter what kind of day you're having, it seems to make it a little better." Jamie continued.

"Nice, Jamie." Luke said nodding his head "You see that that tree over there." he said pointing at a tree that sat beside a parking lot a couple of yards away "That's where Uncle Keith sat with Whitey and convinced him to let me join the basketball team while they watched me play basketball on this court. If it wasn't for that, I might never have talked to your Mom."

"This is also the place where your Mom declared she would always be in love with your Dad which led to Luke finally getting his head out of his a- Never mind" Nathan said only to stop when he saw the look Lucas was sending him.

Sawyer looked between the three of them before shrugging her shoulder's, saying "It still looks like it's just a basketball court." With that, she turned and walked over to the bleachers, walking up a few steps, she turned and sat down putting her elbows on her knees, resting her chin in her hand.

They let out a little laugh before Nathan and Jamie started to shoot around. Nathan looked over his shoulder, getting ready to say something to Luke when he noticed the frown that had crossed the older brothers face as he looked down at the ground. Nathan looked down, to see what had Luke so upset and realized that this was the first time in a while that Luke's been there and he was just now seeing how fade Peyton 'declaration' of love was.

"Remind me to show you something when we get home." Nathan called out getting Luke's attention.

He looked up, startled but nodded his head. Quickly glancing down one last time, Luke made his way over to Sawyer, saying "We're going to play basketball for a while and then I'll take you to TRIC."

"Alright, Daddy." she said hoping that whatever TRIC was, is was more exciting then a basketball court.

"Don't wander off and stay away from the river."

She nodded and he place a kiss on her forehead before jogging back over to Nathan and Jamie. For the next couple of hours, they played ball while Sawyer sat there and watched. Every once in a while one of them would say _watch this, Sawyer _and they would shoot the ball some special way. She would say _cool _before looking around, unimpressed. She's never really been into basketball and Lucas knew that. She would sit with him and Andy sometimes when they watched Nathan on the tv or any other NBA team but it was more about spending time with him, she never cared about the game.

At one point, Lucas ran to the car, grabbing her book bag that they usually carried with them and brought it over to her. Nathan stopped mid-shot when he saw her sitting on her knee's drawing. He laughed when Lucas stole the ball away saying she wasn't any good she just like to be like her Mom. Deciding they had made her suffer enough for one day, Lucas walked over to the bleachers and offered her his bottled water before packing up her things.

Nathan and Jamie stood on the court still, waiting, goofing off. Nathan walked back to the half court line and got a running start before jumping from the free throw line, posing in the air before slamming the ball into the rim.

"Wow," Sawyer whispered only loud enough for Luke to hear "He can fly."

Luke looked behind him just in time to see Nathan let go of the rim. He looked back to Sawyer just in time to see her jump off the bottom step, running towards Nathan.

"I want to do that." she said picking up the ball.

"Dunk it?" Nathan asked

Sawyer nodded and he picked her up so she could reach the rim. She looked down at him before putting the ball in the rim. Once he sat her down, she ran to get the ball again.

"Not that Uncle Nathan," she said as she ran back to him "I want to fly. Like you."

"Fly like me?" Nathan said confused before it dawned on him what she was talking about. "This?" he said before doing what he did before.

"Yeah." she giggle was she ran to get the ball again.

"Alright, come here." he said, walking her to the half court line. Walking back to the free throw line, he turned back to look at her and said "Okay, you gotta run fast."

Sawyer nodded before she took of running, carrying the ball in her hands. Nathan pick up around the waist and helped her the rest of the way to the hoop so she could dunk the ball and she let out a squeal as he set her back down on the pavement.

Running to get the ball again, she said "Again, again."

Lucas and Jamie looked at each other before looking back to the court. Neither pointed out that she wasn't dribbling the ball as they watch Nathan and Sawyer's repeat performance.

"Did you see, Daddy? I can fly." Sawyer exclaimed before running to get the ball again.

"I sure did, baby girl." he called out, sharing a look with Nathan, wondering where this sudden excitement for basket ball came from. When she reached the court, he said "Come here, Sawyer."

She came and stood next to her Dad by the free throw line. Luke bent down and started to explain how to shoot a free throw and for the first time, she really listen. He stood off to the side and watched as she bounced the ball a couple of time before lining up the shot and throwing it with all her might. He didn't have to look at the hoop to know the ball went in. The rustling of the chains told him that much but his eye's were glued to his daughters as he watched that oh so familiar spark light up her eyes.

"I did it, Daddy. I made the shot." she squealed before taking off for the ball, again.

In the four years of his daughters life, Lucas Scott had never seen that spark in her eye's. It had seemed that basketball had found it's way into yet another Scott's heart and everyone knew once that happened, there was no going back. Did he plan to push her into playing pee-wee basketball? No, not if she didn't want to. He'd never force her to do anything she didn't want, seeing the affect's that has on a kid first hand with Nathan but still his heart swelled with pride as he watched Nathan, Jamie and Sawyer playing basketball.

"Come on, Daddy." She called out before taking another shot causing the rustling of the chains to echo through the air once again.

They continued to play, this time with Sawyer, for the next couple of hours. It was when Sawyer and Jamie exclaimed that they were hungry that Lucas looked down at his watch to see it was going on two in the afternoon. Making sure they had everything, Luke helped Sawyer into the back seat and buckled her in before hopping in the passenger seat.

Looking over at Nathan, he said "Why don't we pick a pizza up and take it to Haley and Peyton. I'm sure they haven't ate yet."

"Alright," he said as he backed up "But there something I want to show you first."

"Okay." Lucas said.

The only sound that came from the car was Sawyer and Jamie talking in the back seat. It was reassuring to see how fast the cousin seem to have bonded. It was like they've spent everyday of the last for years together instead of apart. When Nathan turned down an all to familiar road, Lucas gave him a look.

"What's going on Nate?"

"You'll see."

Lucas shook his head and focused his eye's back out the window as the car came to a stop. It was then that Lucas saw the for sale sign.

Letting out a laugh, he asked "How long's it been for sale?"

"I noticed the sign last week." Nathan said "I told Haley and was going to let her guilt you in to coming home and buying it when you called on Jamie's birthday."

"Good thing we showed up then, huh." Lucas said turning to Nathan only to see him holding out the key's "How'd you get these?"

"Charmed the Realtor. She said she hold off on any other offers until she heard from me. You want to go check it out?"

Lucas took the key's but shook his head saying "Nah, I've seen it before. I'll wait for Peyton. She's going to freak."

"So, I take it you don't want me to say anything to her?"

"No, I want to surprise her." he said as he looked back out the window at the house "Do you think Haley's going to say anything?"

"No I told her I was going to take you by here today. She said she'd keep her mouth shut but we both know how bad she is at keeping secret's so I suggested you show Peyton soon."

"I'm hungry." Jamie and Sawyer said at the same time.

Laughing, Nathan put the car back in drive and drove down the road. Luke took the key's and shoved him in his pocket. Thinking back to the drawling he saw of hers, he laughed to himself thinking _'Yeah, Peyton was going to freak.'_


	5. Psycho tendencies

Just a little warning, this story is un-beta so all mistakes are mine, sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill….someone else does.

A/N: Alright so originally, the last chapter and this one were all one chapter but by the time I was done with it, it was way to long so I had to break it up in to two chapters. I wanted to get the story rolling and that meant I had to have some key parts I couldn't leave and this was the result. So, if you didn't read the chapter before this, you might want to.

* * *

_**Psycho tendencies… **_

"It took you long enough." Haley said as Peyton got out of the car.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly "But you didn't have to wait for me down here. I'm sure I remember where to go in. It hasn't been that long."

"I'm just making sure." Haley joked as she stood up, placing Liz on her hip "I wasn't waiting for you. I got here an hour ago and went up. I needed some fresh air so I came down here and heard the car so I decided to wait. What took so long anyways? I thought you guys would leave right after me."

"Oh we did." Peyton said "I just went for a drive."

Haley laughed as she shook her head "What is it with you and that car?"

"Hey, I'll have you know that car was part of some very precious moment's in my life. Hell, if wasn't for that car, I don't think I would have ever talked to Luca-"

"Yeah, yeah. We all know the story, Peyton. Most of the town's read his books. Sorry I asked." Haley said, sending Peyton an innocent smile.

"Anyway," Peyton said sending a glare at Haley "Why did Luke and Nathan apologize to me this morning?"

Haley let out laugh as they started to climb the stairs, explaining what happened in the kitchen before Peyton walked in. By the time they walked into TRIC, they were both laughing as Peyton told Haley that Lucas had already made it a rule that Sawyer wasn't aloud to date jocks, saying that a AV guy like Mouth would be better and that was if he allowed her to date at all in high school. They were so involved in their own conversation that the didn't noticed the group of five people sitting off to the side at a table, now staring at them.

"Oh my god. It's Peyton Sawyer." the heard a voice exclaim causing both of them to look at the table.

"Right, there's a staff meeting going on for TRIC." Haley said to herself, looking over at Peyton she said "Sorry."

"Why?"

"I'll explain in a minute." Haley said under her breath as the group made it's way over to them "Hey guys. Sorry we didn't mean to interrupt. I forgot you were having a meeting today."

"Are you kidding me? Meeting Peyton Sawyer trumps any stupid meeting. This girl's a hometown hero."

Peyton sent a look at Haley before reaching out her hand to the only girl who had spoken "It's actually Peyton Scott now. It's nice to meet you…"

"Brittany." the bubbly blonde responded, shaking Peyton hand "Haley always said that you still come home once in a while but no one ever saw you so everyone thought she was lying. I can't believe I'm standing here, shaking Peyton Sawyer's hand. My friends are never going to believe this. Are you staying in town long?"

Peyton was shocked as the girl started to talk a mile a minute and a frown crossed her face when she called her Peyton Sawyer, again. Unsure of what to say Peyton sent a look at Haley saying "Umm…."

"Alright, Brittany. You can let go of her hand." a guy said as he grabbed their hands and pulled them apart.

Peyton noticed how he held on to her hand a bit longer then he should have but shook it off as her being paranoid and once again, looked back over at Haley, praying she would save her from this madness.

"Okay guy's. Peyton here to go over some demo's. I've told you before, Lucas technically run's TRIC. Peyton run Red Bedroom Records. So, if you don't-"

"So can we expected Lucas coming by any time soon?" a brunette asked form the back with a sly grin.

"Luke likes to come by after hour's to avoid any psycho's." Peyton said sending the girl a look.

"That's to bad." she said staring Peyton in the eye "Justin, I'll work any closing shift you have for the next week. It's always been a fantasy of mine to meet the famous Lucas Scott."

"And everyone in Tree Hill knows Luke is happily married now." Haley said sending the girl a look before looking back at Peyton "Peyt, this is Justin. TRIC'S manager/bar tender, this is Steven, the assistant manager. The bubbly blond it Brittany and the rude girl in the back is Sadie and last but not least we have Kris. The three of them are waiters."

"Nice to meet everyone." Peyton said sending them a smile "Haley we really should be getting up there. There's a lot to go over."

"Yeah, sorry guys." Haley said grabbing Peyton's arm with her free hand "Maybe we'll have time to talk later."

The quickly turned around and started to walk up the stairs, heading towards the recorder label. Peyton glanced over her shoulder to see the group had walked back to the table. She didn't miss the glare Sadie was sending her or the way Justin's eyes seem to linger on her and Haley, even after he started talking to the staff again.

"Okay," Peyton said, making the door was shut all the way before turning back to Haley "What the hell was that?"

"Okay about three years ago, Tree High got a new English teacher for the 12th grade."

"Well, good for them. It's about time." Peyton said after Haley stared at her for a couple of minutes "What's that have to do with them? Home town hero, what's that all about?"

"Well, this new English teacher, Mrs. Weiss, she's a huge fan of Luke's. Loves his books. I'm not kidding Peyton, every time I see this women, she asks me when he's coming out with a new book. I mean how would I know that? I'm not his freak editor." Haley stopped, placing Liz in the play pen and looked at Peyton before saying "And you don't care about any of that. But you will. Trust me, the first time you meet this women, you're going to want to kill Luke for writing those damn books. Anyway, since she started teaching, she's made it mandatory that her class read's at least one of his books. So, pretty much, you can count on the fact that anyone between the ages of 18 to 21, have read at least one his book."

"Again, good for them. That still doesn't explain why one of the waitress refuses to call me Peyton Scott and why the other want's jump my husband."

"That's just it." Haley exclaimed as she started to pace back an fourth "You know how kids are. The underclassmen found out that the senior's had to read a book written by some guy that grew up here so then they want to read it. Then they start to form this little groups, girls mostly." Haley paused and looked at Peyton before continuing "It's crazy Peyton, there's girls that love you and hate Brooke and vise versa. There's some that hate every girl mentioned in the book strictly on the fact that they think Luke's hot. The entire first year after Mrs. Weiss started teaching was hell. Every where I went someone was coming up to me, asking some question or another. You'll get use to saying _'you mean Scott _or _'it's Scott now'_."

"How do these kid's even know what we look like? I mean Lucas is a good writer but he can't descried people that good."

"They all attended to Tree Hill High, Peyton. All they have to do is go to the library and check out an old year book."

"So basically you're telling me I just walked back into hell. Maybe I should tell Luke I changed my mind."

"Oh no, you guy's are here to stay." Haley said with a laugh "I'll tell Justin to talk to the staff and tell them to tone it down a bit."

"Yeah and while you're at it, telling him to fire that Sadie chick."

"She's not that bad. You just don't like her because she has the hott's for your husband."

"That and she remind's me of Brooke when she was 16. I love Brooke but trust me, that's a bad thing."

"That's what Brooke said when she first met her."

"See." Peyton said

Haley laughed at her as she sat a box of CD's in front of her, saying "Ready to get to work, Partner?"

"More then you know."Peyton said digging around in the box "I've missed this."

They sat there for a couple of hours, determined to go through the entire box of CD's. They quickly went through and separated them into the piles. One's that they both said no to immediately went into the trash, one's that one liked but no the other went into the undecided pile and the one's they both agreed on went into another pile. They cut the amount of CD's in half but they were still only looking for couple groups and had a lot of work a head of them. As they started to listen to demo's again, they put them into piles of groups they would like to perform at TRIC and groups they might be interested in working with beyond that. After a while, all the songs started to sound the same.

"It's time to take a break." Haley declared as Liz cried out from the play pen "Besides, Liz is probably hungry."

Peyton nodded her head as she stood up, saying "I'm going to run downstairs and get something to drink. Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm alright but are you sure that's a good idea? You might get bombarded again."

"I'm going to have to learn to be around them soon or later. Besides, once they see me as a normal person, they might calm down."

"Alright, well call out for me if you need help and no bitch slapping anyone."Haley said giving Peyton a look.

She laughed as she opened the door and walked out of the label. She was relieved to see that they staff meeting was over and only Justin stood behind the bar, putting glasses away, getting the bar ready for tonight.

"Hey, can I get a water?" Peyton called out as she approached the bar, pulling out her phone, wondering where Luke was, figuring Sawyer was probably getting hungry by now, seeing that it was going on 2.

"Thanks" she said to Justin as he sat a glass of water down in front of her. Putting her phone up to her ear, she listen as the phone ring and looked around TRIC. Haley hadn't changed much. The table were rearranged differently, some of the lighting had been changed too and there were a few more games then there was before but other then that, it was the same old TRIC and Peyton found that reassuring for some reason.

"Hey, it's me." she said into the phone after his voicemail beeped "I just want to call and tell you that it is illegal to deprive our daugther of food just because she doesn't like basketball. Call me back."

"Would he really do that?"

Peyton turned around and saw Justin glance at her before going back to doing what he was doing before.

"Not feed her because she doesn't like to play basketball." he explained when she looked at him

"Luke?" Peyton said with a small laugh, looking at him like he had lost his mind "No. That's was just a joke. he'll laugh when he hear's it. Luke's not like that."

"I don't know. I mean you hear a lot of thing's in a small town like this. Dan Scott is his father, right?"

"Luke is nothing like his…like Dan. Just because he had a apart in creating Luke doesn't mean they have anything in common. I know this is a small town. I grew up here to and if you were to ask about Luke, everyone would tell you he's the complete opposite of Dan."

"I know. Everyone loves Lucas and Nathan Scott in this town. Home town boy's who made their dream's come true." he muttered looking rather disgusted with that fact "But that doesn't change the fact that he still get's half-"

"Yes, it does." Peyton said, narrowing her eyes at him.

Seeing the look she was giving him, he quickly apologized "Miss Sawyer, I'm so sor-"

"It's Mrs. Scott" Peyton said, venom in her voice "And I would appreacate if you tell your staff that to. I know in the book it's Sawyer and it was for a long time but I'm married now. No body's referred to me as Miss. Sawyer anymore."

"Again, I'm sorry Peyton. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just…the book doesn't make Dan out to be the nicest person and Luke made some mistakes. Some big mistakes, I mean he almost marry so-"

"Look Justin," she said once again cutting him off "I get that the younger generation of this town has developed this weird obsession with Luke's books and all gossip that surrounds him but that's all that stuff happened a long time ago."

Justin let out a little chuckle, asking "How old do you think I am?"

"I don't know, you're the bartender so you have to at least be 21."

"Haley hasn't told you much about me, has she?"

"Well, I just got into town yesterday and it was my nephews birthday so, no she really hasn't had much time to tell me anything about the people who work here." Peyton said trying to calm herself down. The more this guy seems to talk the more she wanted to hit him in the face "Why is there something I should know?"

"Well, for starter's, I'm not from Tree Hill. I moved here about three months ago and I'm 27."

"So how do you know so much about Tree Hill?"

"Lucas's books have been a big help. I mean only the first one was really about the town but if you've read the first one it's easy to tell who the other two are about. And like I said before, it's a small town. If you want to know anything about anyone, all you have to do is pretty much say you're an old friend and people will tell you anything."

Peyton stared at him with a blank look. That last statement he made didn't set right with her. Snapping out if it, she said "You moved here because you're a fan of Luke's."

"No, I'm a fan of his work." he said as his eyes traveled down the length of her body.

"Exscuse me." she said snaping her fingers in front of his face "Yeah, hi. I'm up here." she said pointing at her face "And trust me, Luke loves his work and I can't wait until he get a chance to evaluate this staff."

With that Peyton grabbed the water and walked up the stairs. Once again, making sure the door was closed behind her, she walked into the office and saw Haley sitting in the chair, playing with Liz.

"Alright, we've always had a strict no hiring people with psycho tendencies policy, right?"

"I guess so." Haley said with a laugh "Why?"

"Because that Justin guy, just raised about ten different flags."

_***One Tree Hill***_

Nathan pulled up outside TRIC and they got out. He grabbing the pizza and Lucas unbuckled Sawyer toddler seat, taking her out of the car and placing her on his hip. Jamie was walking up the stairs follows by Nathan and Luke.

"This is TRIC?" Sawyer asked looking at the brick building.

"Yeah babe, this is TRIC."

Sawyer just laid her head down on Luke's shoulder, thinking her parent's were crazy. A brick building and a basketball court, although she did think that was pretty cool, now. As he walked in the door, Sawyer picked her head up and looked around, amazed. She had to admit, TRIC was pretty cool, too.

"Sorry, we're clos-" Justin started to say but stoped when he looked up "Oh hey Nathan."

"Justin" Nathan said nodding his head.

Luke could tell immediately that there was some tension between his bother and who he presumed to be the bartender. The two guy locked eyes and Luke noticed he seemed to be trying to stare him down. Not wanting to back down, Luke held eye contact, wondering what this guy was all about.

"Daddy, put me down." Sawyer said as she wiggled against him, trying to get down. Finally, giving up she looked up at him, saying "Please."

That little plea forced Luke to break eye contact. As he looked down at Sawyer, he didn't miss the smirk that cross Justin face. He set her on the gorund and immediately looked back to Justin only to see his eye focused on Sawyer. That he wasn't going to stand for.

"Daddy, can I go play?"

"Yeah," he said looking down at Sawyer, he pulled out five dollars and handed it to Jamie, saying "Go play the games for a little while."

"Thanks, Uncle Lucas." he said, grabbing Sawyer's hand, leading her away from the adult's.

"Justin, right?" Lucas said walking towards the bar. Once he was close enough, he held out his hand, saying "I'm Lucas-"

"Scott. Owner of TRIC." Justin said cutting him off, ignoring Luke's hand and motioning around the bar "And my boss."

Lucas pulled his hand's away and crossed his arms over his chest, squinting his eye he said "Among other thin-"

"One time basketball coach of the Raven, famous author and older to brother to one Nathan Scott, NBA star." Justin said sending a smirk in Nathan's direction at the end "Did I miss anything?"

"Yeah," Lucas said "The part where you tell me who you are?"

"I'm Justin Smith, you're bartender/manager." he said putting the last glass away "Shouldn't you know that?"

Luke took a step forward before Nathan decided to step in. "Luke, man this guy's a dick. He always has been. Go get Peyton and Haley. The kids are hungry."

Luke stared at Justin for a minute before turning to walk towards the stairs.

"Yeah, you wouldn't want anyone to think you're depriving her of food, right?"

Nathan and Luke both turned to look at Justin.

"What'd you just say?" Luke said walking back towards the bar.

"Sawyer, Jamie come on. It's time for pizza." Nathan said causing Luke to stop dead in his tracks "You're kids here, man. Not just here but less then twenty feet away. Go get the girls." making sure Luke was walking back towards the stairs, he turned to Justin, saying "You need to learn when to shut you're mouth."

Justin went to reply until he saw the kids run back into ear shot "Hey, you two want some soda?"

"Yeah." Jamie and Sawyer answered as the climbed into a stool at the bar.

"We're going to sit over here." Nathan said, picking Sawyer up and placing her in a chair at the table with the pizza. Jamie waited by the bar for the drinks before joining them.

"Who hired that Justin guy?" Lucas said walking into the office.

Haley didn't miss the 'I told you so' look Peyton was giving her before she said "I did."

"What happened to Chase?"

"He left to join Mia on tour." Haley said "Why?"

"Haley, that guy's a dick."

"What is with you two? Justin's been nothing but nice to me."

"What'd he do to you?" Lucas said, immediately looking at Peyton.

"Where's my kid?" Peyton said, totally avoiding the question "I kind of miss her."

"She's down stair's eating. What'd he say to you?"

"Luke, it's nothing." She said glaring at Haley as she grabbed his hand "Now come on. Let's go eat with our kid."

He gave in and let her lead him out of the studio, putting his arm around Haley as he walked by her "We really have to work on you're intervewing skills, Hales."

"Hey," she said hitting him in his chest "he passed the background check."

"Yeah, but it doesn't usually said '_this guy's a dick' _on that."

Haley rolled her eyes as they sat down at the table. Luke leaned over and whispered that it wasn't over in Peyton ear before joining in on the conversation everyone else was having. They laughed as they listen to Jamie and Sawyer tell them different things and as soon as their pizza was gone, they started to beg for more money to play the games. Lucas was reaching for the his wallet when Justin showed up with a bag full of qauter's, saving the day. Lucas glared at him until he felt Haley kick him underneath the table.

"Hello Scott family." Brooke said when she entered TRIC " Some how, I knew I'd find you here."

"Hey Brooke." Peyton said as the other's waved "There's some pizza if you want some."

"No, I can't stay long. " she said looking around the empty bar. When her eyes came across 2/3 of what she was here for, a smlie tugged at her lips and she looked back at the table, saying "Actually, I was wondering if I could borrow all the little Scott's for the afternoon."

"All of them?" Nathan asked

"Yup."

"Why?"

"Now that's a surprise." she said as a smiling, showing off her dimples "But I promise to return them tonight, at a decent hour, in one piece."

"Okay." Peyton and Haley said.

"Great." Brooke said clapping her hands together "Little Scott's." She called over her shoulder to Jamie and Sawyer as she took Liz out of Nathan's hands.

"Hi, Aunt Brooke." they called out, but didn't walk away from the game they were playing.

"I really don't like this whole being ignored thing." Brooke said with a frown before walking towards them "Hey, you guy's feel like coming and helping me out for a little while?"

"Yeah." Sawyer immediately said.

Jamie nodded his head, saying "Can I finish this gam…Never mind. Let's go."

They waved at their parent's as the walked out the door only to walk back in a few seconds later.

"Nathan, I need the key's to your car." Brooke said

"Why?"

"Because that's the only car that has both a car seat for Little Penelope and a toddler seat for Little Brooke." When she saw the looks everyone at the table was giving her, she said "Hey, you named them after me so don't get mad when I call them that."

"How am I suppose to get home?"

"Everyone sitting at this table is staying at your house right now. I'm sure someone will let you ride home with them." She said holding out her hand "Just give me the key's."

"How am I suppose to get my car back?" Nathan said, now just trying to annoy her, as he reached into his pocket.

Brooke let out a growl as she narrowed her eyes at him. Snatching the key's from his hand, she turned and started to walk towards the door, followed by Jamie and Sawyer. Stopping, she turned to face the table again, saying "Be here at 9 tonight. I'll give you back your kid's and your car and then I can reveal my surprise" and with that she turned and walked out the door.

"You can take my car." Haley said with a laugh "I'll just ride home with Peyton."

"Actually, I need to steal Peyton for a little while." Lucas said looking up.

"Luke no. I was just about to play the new song I'm working on for her."

"It's will only be for a little while." Lucas said "When we get back, we can head back to your house."

Nathan nodded as he started to clean up the table.

"What are you up to, Lucas Scott?" Peyton asked as she helped Nathan.

"Now, that's a surprise."

Haley looked between the two of them and then it dawn on her what Luke might be talking about. Smiling, she said "Alright. But you only have an hour."

"Okay." he said, grabbing Peyton's hand and dragging her out the door.

"Luke wait. I don't have my phone or anything." she laughed

"You don't need it."

"Okay, but we do need the car key's."

Luke just looked at her and tried to stop the smile that was tugging at his lips when he seen her smiling. "I guess you're right. Hurry up." he said as she started walking back up the stairs.

Peyton was back to the car in record time and they were soon on their way. She sat besides, asking questions, seeing if her would give up any hint about where they were going. Finally, she mutter something about him be stubborn and sat back in the seat.

"You're kidding me?" she whispered as they approached the house. She looked over at Luke as the car came to a stop, saying "Seriously?"

"Nathan showed me earlier. I guess it's been up for sale for about a week."

Peyton opened the door and got out of the car, staring at the house in front of her. She was so lost in thought that she jumped a little when his arms circled around her waist.

"What'd you think?"

"Luke, this is my house." she said getting teary eye.

"Yeah, babe. I know" he said holding the key's out in front of her "You wanna go in?"

Peyton immediately snatched the key's from his hand and went to the door. She unlocked it and slowly pushed the door opened. He let out a softly laugh, walking in behind her and out of habit, he making sure he locked the door behind them. They wandered through the house saving her old room for last.

"The house look's exactly the way it did the last time I was here."

"Yeah." was all he replied as she pulled him into her old room "Nathan said the same people that lived here when we still lived in Tree Hill are the people selling it. The girl graduated and they decided to move."

She nodded her head as she dropped his hand and he frowned once he realized the closet door's had been painted. He knew it was a long shot but he hoped the girl, Peyton told him about, had left their saying on the door. Clearly, she didn't. The door was now painted white with black writing on it.

"That sucks." he said soflty, not really meaning for her to hear it.

"What?" she asked turning to look at him, seeing the frown for the first time "Luke, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing." he said shaking his head as he grabbed her by the hip, pulling her closer to him. Noticing the doubt in her eye's, he leaned in giving her a soft kiss, to reassure her that everything was truly fine "I swear babe, it's nothing."

"Don't do that. Just tell me what's going on. Do you not want the house? Because we can look at other houses, Luke. That's not a big deal-"

"Peyton," he said cutting her off "It's not the house. I love the house and I know that it's the house you want, right?"

She looked up at him, smiling softly saying "Yeah."

"Alright, then this is the house you're gonna get." he said with a shrug of his shoulder, looking back to the door's.

"Alright," she said making him looking her in the eye "So then what's really going on?"

"It's just…" he trailed off and ran a hand through his hair before looking down at Peyton. Rubbing his hand's up and down her bare arms he said "I just kind of hoped she left the door's alone."

"Huh?" she said confused until he pointed at the cloest door and it dawned on her what he was talking about "oh."

He raised an eyebrow at her response. She didn't seem to surprised. "Oh?' he asked

"Yeah see, here's the thing." she said biting her buttom lip before looking back at him "I kind of told her to do that." He looked at her shocked and she immediately defended herself "Hey, come on, don't look at me like that. You had proposed to Lindsay and I had just talked to you in the gym and told you to be happy. I thought you wanted me to move on and telling her to paint the door was the fir-"

Cupping her face in his hands, he smashed his lips to her once he realized what she was talking about. Feeling like she didn't need to explain anything and honestly, to get her to shut up. He hated talking about that time in their life. He knew he hurt her, badly and that's why he tried his best to ignore her little jab's she throws at him every once in a while. In his eye's, it was the least he could do.

"I get it." he said when he pulled away. Rubbing his thumb gently across her cheek, he said "Haley right, karma's a bitch."

Peyton laughed as she pulled away and walked over to the closet door and pulling them open.

"You know, I can still picture it the way it was back then." she said looking around the closet, reaching her hand out like she was running her finger-tips across the sides of all her albums.

He laughed soflty as he wacthed her, shoving his hands into his pockets. His eye's travled from her to the door and he was surprised to see a blank white spot where their saying should have been. Black writings and pictures covered the entire back side of the door but that one spot was untouched. Walking towards the door, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him because he swore he could still see it. Either that or he just wanted it to still be there so bad that he was picturing it. Once he was close enough, he reached out his hand and let out a little laugh.

"You carved it in to the door."

"What?" Peyton said as she turned around and saw him. Walking up besides she looked at the door and smiled "It's still there."

"Wait till Sawyer see this."

"Luke, that is so cool." Peyton said running her finger-tips over the door "I can get some paint and paint the letters a different color, make it stand out more."

"You know, being in this room bring's back a lot of memories." he said placing soft kiss along her shoulders.

"Mmm hmm," she said as she close her eyes "but technically, we're in someone else house and the door's not locked."

"Actually, it is." he said playing with the zipper on the back of her dress "And we have the only set of key's."

"Why, I do believe that you thought of every thing, Mr. Scott." she said turning in his arms, bring her lips to his. She giggle as he walked them into the closest, pushing her up against the wall.

_***One Tree Hill***_

"I thought Brooke said be here at 9." Nathan said as he took another shot.

"She did." Lucas said before he took a shot.

It was going on 9:30 and Brooke had yet to show up and return their children. Peyton and Haley had been locked in the studio since she got back and Nathan and Luke figured they would just stick around. Luke wanted to go over some of the past book, just to make sure everything added up and Nathan stuck around to make sure Luke didn't end up punching Justin. Now, they stood in front of the basketball game, looking over at the door every so often, wondering if they should be worried or not.

"How'd Peyton like the house?"

"She love'd it. She want's to show Sawyer first but that's the house she wants."

"What if Sawyer doesn't like it?"

"Let's just say there's something upstairs in Peyton's old room that pretty much guarantee's she'll like it."

"And what's that?"

"You'll have to see it to believe it."

Nathan shook his head, laughing when he noticed Brooke walking up the stairs carrying Liz in one arm and hanging on to Sawyer's hand with her free one. Jamie walked behind her, carrying a lap-top.

"They're here." Nathan said nodding towards the stairs.

"What is she up to?" Lucas said noticing what Jamie had.

"I'm kind of afraid to ask." Nathan said as they made their way through the semi-crowded bar, walking up the stairs. By the time they reached the studio, Liz was in Haley's arms, half a sleep, Peyton had Sawyer, who had her head rested on her shoulder. Jamie laid across the pool table, resting his head on his arms.

"Before you say anything," Brooke saiod holding up a finger when she noticed the looks everyone was giving her "I fed them dinner and I didn't brake any child labor law. At least I don't think I did. Anyway, that's not what matter. I have a surprise for all of you. Come, sit in the chairs." she finished walking into the office grabbing the lap-top off the end of the pool table.

The four exchanged look before the guy's took the kids and they followed her into the office. Haley and Peyton sat down in the chair while the guy's stood behind them, looking at Brooke, bewildered.

"Alright" Brooke said as she flipped the top opened. She hit a few buttons before turning it around so they could all see the screen, saying "I would like to introduce you to the new faces of Clothes over Bros Kids."

Haley and Peyton's eyes went wide as picture started to flash across the screen. Some were black and white while other were colored. Some of them had all three of the kids in them while other were individual shot's. There wasn't any doubt that they were dress in the latest line for Brooke's kid's clothing line. Some of them were taken on the roof of Brooke's store, other's looked like they were taken at the local park but what made them look so good was, in every picture, the kids were just being kids. In one they looked like they were having a water balloon fight while in another, Jamie and Sawyer walked down the side walk, with Liz in between them, each holding on to one of her hands.

"These aren't all the proof's but it's all I time to upload. That's why we were running so late. But once they're all gone through and of course, the approval of the parent's, this will be the new add campaign. Five of those photo's will be in store's, magaizne's and billboards across America. Okay, so maybe not all across America but where ever they sell Clothes over Bros Kids."

"I don't know how I feel about Sawyer's face being splashed acrossed America." Luke said looking at the picture's.

"You can't be serious." Brooke said, she knew convincing Haley and Peyton would be easy but she also figured Nathan and Luke would protest. Luckly, she had an argument for that "These are the children of Haley and Nathan Scott, famous singer and NBA super star. Then there's Lucas and Peyton Scott, famous author and recorder label owner. I bet I could get on the Internet and find at least five different picture of each one of them. Well, maybe not Liz because she's still pretty young but Sawyer and Jamie, for sure."

"She's got you there." Peyton said looking over at her shoulder only to see Lucas and Nathan glaring at her. "Hey, don't blame me. I'm the only one who didn't have famous or super star in the label."

"Don't act so innocent Peyton, 85% of girls between the ages of 15 and 25 know who Peyton Sawyer is." Brooke said "So what do you say? Please?"

"We get finally approval?" Haley asked.

"Yes."

"One condition. Any picture I want a copy of, I get." Peyton said "These picture are really good Brooke."

"Done and thank you."

Nathan and Lucas just looked at each other, knowing they really didn't get a say in the matter but they had to admit, the pictures were really good.


	6. NONO, NO, NO

Just a little warning, this story is un-beta so all mistakes are mine, sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill….someone else does.

A/N:Thank you to all of those that reviewed: crazyjan, A Amanda A, Oura29, AnnOTH21, Peyton4ever and Mela18. They really do mean a lot to me.

* * *

_**NO… NO, NO, NO!**_

"I thought you guy's would be gone by now." Haley said when she walked into the kitchen.

"We still have a little while before we have to be there." Nathan said before giving her a quick kiss "What are you doing today?"

"You know, that same old, same old." she said with a wave of her hand "Have you seen Peyton?"

"Her and Sawyer took off a little while ago."

"Oh, yeah." Haley said "Where'd they go?"

"I'm not really sure." he said looking back down at the newspaper "She said she'd meet you at TRIC later."

"Okay." she said "Where's Jamie?"

"Waking Luke up."

"You do remember what happen last time you let Jamie wake him up right?"

Nathan laughed lightly, saying "Yeah, you shaved Luke's head."

"I was talking about the time where Luke marched outside with Jamie in his arms and dropped him into the pool but yeah, you see where I'm going with this."

"They'll be fine." he said as he turned the page "Besides, if nothing else, I'll at least get a good laugh."

"You're horrible." she laughed before giving him a quick kiss "Liz is with me. I'll see you later."

He nodded before kissing her one last time "I love you."

"Love you, too." she said before turning to walk out of the kitchen.

"NATHAN, COME GET JAMIE!" they heard echo through the house "OR LIZ IS GOING TO BE AN ONLY CHILD!"

"I told you so." Haley said before picking up Liz and walking out of the house.

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Uncle Lucas." Jamie said in a sing song voice, standing on the side of the bed, staring down at Lucas, who was laying on his stomach, sleeping. When he didn't flinch a muscle, Jamie tired again "Uncle Lucas?"

Lucas mumbled some kind of response before turning his head away from Jamie.

Understanding that simple whispers weren't going to work, Jamie hesitantly reached out his hand, shaking him, saying "Uncle Lucas, you gotta get up."

"Five more minutes, Peyt." Lucas mumbled

Jamie stared down at his uncle with an eyebrow raised. He knew, when the adult's told him they were going out the night before, Luke would be hard to get out of bed the next morning. So, when Nathan suggested he try and wake him up, Jamie was all to happy to oblige, remembering the cool hair cut he had one time but now, as he gave his uncle another hard shake and Lucas brushing his hand away before cuddling further under the cover's, he knew he had to take drastic measure.

Walking into the guest bathroom, Jamie turned on the cold water. Finding a pretty good size's cup, under the sink, he filled it up to the top and walked back into the room. A smile lit up his face when he saw that Luke had rolled onto his back and was facing him, eye's close, with a peacefully look in his face. Walking up to the bed, he held the cup about a foot above Lucas face before turning it upside down, pouring the entire cup of water on Lucas's face causing him to jump up, startled.

Jamie instantly took a few steps back, dropping the cup to the floor before bursting out laughing at the look on Lucas's face.

"NATHAN, COME GET JAMIE OR LIZ IS GOING TO BE AN ONLY CHILD!"

"You wouldn't hurt me." Jamie said, but judging from the look on Lucas' s face, he wasn't so sure. So, instead of find out if he was serious or not, Jamie took off out of the room.

"What'd you do?" Nathan asked looking up from the paper when Jamie entered the kitchen.

"I pour a cup of cold water on him." he said with a shrug of his shoulders as he took a seat next to his dad.

"Nice." Nathan laughed, holding out his fist for Jamie to pound. It wasn't to long later that Luke walked into the kitchen, heading to the coffee pot, sending a glare Jamie's way. "Well, that was fast."

"Thanks' to him," Lucas said pointing a finger at Jamie "I didn't have to take a shower."

"You really should have, Uncle Lucas." Jamie said, not even looking up for his DS "You could really use one."

Nathan let out a laugh as Lucas squinted his eyes, saying "You know, you use to have my back. What happen to that?"

"You moved away for four years." Jamie said before getting up and walking out of the kitchen.

"Ouch." Luke said, looking over at Nathan.

He looked helplessly at Luke before saying "I'm sorry Man. I'll talk to hi-"

"Don't worry about." Lucas said cutting him off "He has every right to be upset. I guess I never realized he felt that way."

"Luke, you know Jamie loves you."

"I know, I know."

"But I'm not going to lie to you. Jamie took it pretty hard when you guy's left." Nathan said "He even yelled at Dan, saying it was his fault."

"What?"

"Yeah, it was about a month after you left and I think it finally hit him that you weren't coming back anytime soon. Dan stopped by to take him out for a little while and five minutes after they walked out of the house, Haley heard Jamie yelling at Dan in the drive-way, saying it was his fault you left."

Lucas was shocked. He knew Jamie was upset when they left but as the day's and month's passed, Jamie seemed fine. He never acted mad when they talked on the phone or when they came home for a visit.

"Do they still see each other?"

"Once in a while." Nathan said, shrugging his shoulder "Honestly, their relationship really hasn't been the same. As Jamie got older, he stopped seeing Dan as this amazing grandfather and started to see, well the real Dan. You can probably figure out what happens from there."

"I'm sorry Nathan." Lucas said, suddenly feeling bad "I really didn't mean for that to happen."

"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault." Nathan said, shaking his head "We all knew Dan true color's who show one day . It just suck's that Jamie had to learn that to. For a while, I really thought he changed."

"Thought?

"Come on, Man. You know Dan. He's never been able to keep the good guy act up long."

Lucas looked around nervously before asking "Is he still in Tree Hill?"

"He'll make an appearance every once in a while" Nathan said as a smile tugged at his lips "Haley told you he married Rachel, didn't she?"

"Rachel?" Lucas asked confused

"Gatina"

Lucas's eye's went wide "You're joking."

"I swear to god." Nathan said with a laugh "They just showed up on day asking to take Jamie out for a little while so he could get to know Rachel better. Brooke and Haley told Jamie they'd pay him twenty dollar's to call Rachel grandma."

"Did he?" Lucas laughed

"Five different time in the span of ten minutes. It look like she wanted to strangle him."

Lucas visible shuddered and Nathan looked at him with a knowing look, saying "Not a very nice mentally picture, huh?"

Luke shook his head in agreement, saying "Dude, you do realized that you're step-mom tried to sleep with both of us."

"Haley said the same thing and then said something about Rachel must have desperately want a Scott boy in her life."

"It would seem like it." Lucas said with a soft laugh.

No matter how much Nathan tried to get his attention off the fact that Jamie was mad at him, it was still in the back of his mind and Nathan could tell when the smile fell from his face and he got this far off look in his eye.

"Everything's going to be fine." Nathan said giving him a pat on the back "Come on, we have to get going."

"Yeah." Luke said, pushing himself off the counter "You know, I still can't believe you go to this thing."

"Well, it is call Nathan Scott's Basketball Camp. Why wouldn't I go to it?"

"Most guy's only show up for a day. For the sounds of it, you're there all week."

"Jamie, come on. We're leaving." Nathan called up the stair's before turning back to Luke "My agent said the same thing but I figure it's the least I could do. I mean this is my hometown and the kids love that I'm there so why not."

"You know, I'm surprised we turned out as good as we did. I mean we're not perfect but we're a hell of a lot better then Dan every was."

"I think all the credit goes to our mom's." Nathan said causing Luke to raise an eyebrow "Well, you're mom and Haley."

Lucas laughed as Jamie appeared beside them, ready to go. As they walked towards the car, Lucas announced that he would meet them at the school later. Nathan rolled his eyes before running back into the house and grabbing the key's for Lucas car. Telling him not to take to long, he hopped in his Range Rover, waiting for Jamie.

"I'll see you later, J-Luke." Lucas said, waving at him.

Jamie gave him a small wave before getting into his dad's car.

"Hey Jamie," Nathan said once they pulled onto the road, looking in the rearview mirror at him "You think you can give you're Uncle a break?"

Jamie shrugged his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the window, saying "Is he really home for good this time?"

"I think so, son." Nathan said.

Jamie didn't reply but Nathan didn't miss the smile that found it's way across his son's face. Indicating that everything was going to be alright.

_***One Tree Hill***_

"You really almost ran Daddy over with your car?" Sawyer asked from the back seat.

"Yeah," Peyton laughed "That's why you need to make sure you look both way's before crossing the road."

"You're just a bad driver, Mamma." Sawyer giggled

"And I think you've spent to much time with Nate."

"I like Uncle Nate. He can fly."

A scowl crossed Peyton face. Ever since Sawyer was born, she took after Luke. From the way she talked to the way she squinted her eyes, everything she did reminded Peyton of Luke. Secretly, Peyton wished she would take after her in some way but she hasn't. Sure, she like to draw but as Luke point's out all the time, she had no real talent and she didn't really like her Mamma's whinny music, as she called it so when Sawyer seemed not to take any interest in basketball, Peyton rejoiced, teasing Luke that maybe she didn't take after him, like everyone thought. That was until they came home for the river court.

_Damn, river court _she thought to herself. When she stopped at a stop sign, she looked over her shoulder, saying "Why do you like basketball all of the sudden?"

"Cause I can fly like Uncle Nate." Sawyer said with a duh look on her face.

Peyton turned around and made sure no one was coming before turning the corner, shaking her head.

"But I don't want to play like Daddy did." Sawyer suddenly said

"Why not? Daddy said you're really good at it."

"Because I want to be a cheerleader like you." Peyton couldn't stop the smile that crossed her face when she heard that. A smile that slowly disappeared when Sawyer continued "And Aunt Brooke and Aunt Haley."

Shaking her head, she thought _I'll take what I can get_ as she stopped the car.

"Where are we?" Sawyer said looking around

"Well, you see that house?" Peyton said as Sawyer shook her head "That's the house I grew up in."

"Really!" Sawyer asked excitedly.

"Yup." Peyton said "You wanna go in?"

Sawyer nodded her head as she unbuckled the straps on her toddler seat, a trick Jamie had taught her. As she jumped out of the backseat, she asked "Why couldn't we go into Daddy's old house?"

"Because people live there now but no one lives here." Peyton said as they walked to the front door.

As soon as the front door was open, Sawyer took off running from room to room. Peyton let out a soft laugh and made her way up stairs, really only wanting to show her one thing. Leaning against the door frame, she waited until Sawyer bound up the stairs.

"Come here, Baby girl. I want to show you something."

She waited until Sawyer was next to her before opening up the door, saying "This was my old room."

Sawyer walked in looking around, amazed. When her eyes settled on the closet door, she started to giggle "Mamma, someone wrote all over your doors."

"I know," Peyton said smiling down at her "I use to do that, too."

"Grandpa didn't get mad at you?"

Peyton had to laugh. Sure, most parent wouldn't approve of their kids writing on the wall or in this case, on the closet doors but then again, most parent's didn't leave their only daughter home alone for months at a time. Not that Sawyer needed to hear that. Again, it's all water under the bridge in Peyton eye's.

"Nope." Peyton finally said "and I want to show you something." She open the door's and bent down so she was eye level with Sawyer and pulled her closer, saying "You see that."

"Peyton plus Lucas." Sawyer whispered, she just started to read, little words but she recognized her parent's names "That's you're and Daddy's names."

"That is us baby. I wrote that when I was eighteen."

"Wow." Sawyer said running her fingertips over the cravings in the door "What's that mean?" she asked point to TLA.

"True Love Always." came a voice from behind them.

"Daddy!" Sawyer exclaimed, running towards him and jumping into his arms.

"Hey Baby girl." he said before kissing the side of her head, walking towards Peyton, giving her a soft kiss before saying "So what do you think, Sawyer. Pretty cool huh?"

"The coolest." she giggle, again another thing she had picked up from Jamie.

"I agree," Peyton said giving her a smile "What do you think about this being your new room?"

Sawyer looked between her Mom and Dad before saying "I already have a room with Lilly."

"Technical that was Lilly's room she shared with you. Wouldn't you like a room of your own?" Lucas tried.

"Did Grandma get a bigger boat?"

"No, they still have the same boat." Peyton said turning to look at Luke, worried.

"Then how would I get my own room?"

"Well, we're think about buying this house and then this would be your room." Lucas said.

Sawyer started to wiggle, wanting her Dad to put her down. Once she stood on the floor, she put her hands on her hips, saying "I like my old room. When are we going back to the boat?"

"Actually, Baby girl, we're probably going to be staying in Tree Hi-"

"NO!" Sawyer exclaimed cutting Peyton off "I want to go back to Grandma's."

"Sawyer, don't scream at your Mom like that." Lucas immediately said.

"Please Daddy," Sawyer said, ignoring everything he had just said and started to tug on his hand, tears filling up her eyes as she said "Pretty, pretty please. Can we go back to living with Grandma?"

This was what Peyton was scared about. When their things arrived a couple of day's ago, Sawyer wasn't to thrilled with the fact that she didn't have anything left on Andy's boat. Peyton had started to explain that they were going to stay in Tree Hill but Jamie came along and Sawyer ran off before she could really say anything. At that point in time, Peyton was relieved that she didn't have to explain everything but she also knew Sawyer wasn't going to like the idea of them staying from the look she was giving her when she started to explain.

"Baby, don't you want to move here. You can play with Jamie and Liz and Aunt Haley and Uncle Nathan are here." Lucas started, hoping to get her excited about the thought of them moving here.

"And what about Aunt Brooke." Peyton add

"NO!" Sawyer exclaimed once again "I want to stay on the boat and play with Lilly. I want to go home now."

Peyton and Lucas shared a look, surprised that she was acting like this. Sure, she had a temper, just like any other four year old would have but she's never really acted like this.

"Sawyer," Luke said gently, kneeling down so he could look her in the eye "We're going to sta-"

"NO," she said pulling away from him, as tears started to fall from her eyes "NO, NO, NO. I want to go home."

"We are home." Luke exclaimed, slowly losing his patients with the young girl.

"You stay here. I'm going back to Grandma." she said before running out of the room.

"She hates it here." Peyton said as tears started to fill her eyes.

Lucas looked completely broken. First, Sawyer was crying and now Peyton was about to. Taking her in to his arms, he said "Baby she's going to be fine. She's four and we've taking her from the only place she's ever known as home. She just needs-"

He was stop when they heard a door slam. Looking at each other for a second, Peyton said "You go out the front, I'll go out the back."

They took off down the stairs and headed their separate way's. Peyton swore she felt her heart stop when she arrived in the back yard only to see it empty. She immediately started to jog around the house, hoping Luke had her.

"Sawyer Brooke Scott, you better get away from the road and get your little butt back here." Lucas yelled out "NOW!"

Sawyer immediately stopped in her tracks. Was she going to cross the road? No, her Mom and Dad have always told her that she's not aloud to cross the street without an adult. But, still she was mad. She didn't want to move into this house. Even if it was a really, big, pretty house. Even if it was the house that her Mom grew up in. Even if that meant she could stay in Tree Hill. She wanted to go back to the boat. That was her home. Hang her head down low, she slowly started to make her way back towards her parent's.

"What are we going to do Luke?" Peyton whispered as she watched their daughter walk back towards them, defeated.

"Do about what? She's four Peyton. We move her thing's in and say welcome home."

"She'll hate us."

"She won't hate us." Lucas said, looking at Sawyer hoping that he was right.

"You ready to go to TRIC, Baby girl?" Peyton asked hoping if she got off the subject of them staying, Sawyer's mood would brighten.

"I want to go with Daddy." Sawyer said, sending a glare at Peyton.

"She won't hate you." Peyton muttered to Luke, turning away from Sawyer so she wouldn't see the tears in her eyes. She knew Sawyer didn't mean anything by it. She was just mad and she was taking it out on Peyton but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Putting his hand on top of Sawyer head, to ensure she wouldn't run away again, he pulled Peyton towards him, kissing her softly on the forehead before saying "I'll take her with me for a little while. She'll have fun playing with Jamie."

"No I won't." Sawyer said

Luke ignored her and put his finger under Peyton chin, making her look at him before mouthing the words_ she'll be fine_ and sending her a wink, saying "I love you."

"I love you to." she said before giving a quick kiss before bending down and kiss Sawyer on her head "and I love you."

"love you to." Sawyer muttered, looking away from Peyton causing her to send a pointed look at Luke.

"We'll see you in a little while. I think Haley's going to stop by the school." he said before picking Sawyer up, saying "Come on meanie."

"I'm not a meanie." Sawyer protested.

"You could have fooled me." Luke said as he helped her into the back of his car. He leaned in to help her buckle the buckles but she pushed his hands away, saying "I can do it Daddy."

"Since when?"

"Since Jamie taught me."

"See, living in Tree Hill wouldn't be that bad." Luke said with a smirk.

Sawyer crossed her arms over her chest, realizing that her Dad had just tricked her and she didn't make a peep the entire way to the school. Once he had parked the car, Sawyer jumped out and started to walk a head of him, letting him know she was still mad about before, but not to far a head because she really didn't know where she was going. Once they entered the gym, she sent one more glare at Luke before taking off towards Jamie, who was sitting on the bleachers.

"Are you trying to piss off every kid you come in contact with today or is it a gift?" Nathan asked

"Ha ha," Luke said " I can't win. One's mad because I moved away and the other's mad because I want to stay."

"Oh, so I take it you finally told Sawyer you guy's were staying?"

"Kinda"

"Kinda?"

"We asked if she would want Peyton old room to be her new room and she freaked saying she wanted to go home and then ran out of the house."

"Ouch."

"Yeah and you should have seen Peyton face. It broke her heart."

"She'll get over it man. She's four."

"That's what I said but that doesn't mean Peyton feels any better about it. I swear to god, I thought she was going to say let's go back when Sawyer ran from the room."

Nathan looked at him, helplessly saying "I wish I could help you man but Jamie was excited to move into the new house but then again we weren't moving him away from everything he knew."

"Thanks." Luke said sarcastically "That makes me feel so much better."

"I'm really no good at this kinda thing. This is usually where Haley comes in."

"Well, let's hope Haley can make Peyton feel a little better."

"And in the mean time, you want to play a little one on one?" Nathan said tossing a ball to him.

"Alright," Luke said looking around "Where is everyone?"

"Out front getting registered."

"Why aren't you out there?"

"Because every time I turn around someone would be asking for an autograph or a picture. I usually save that for the last day."

"Aren't you Mr. Popular?" Luke said checking the ball to him

"I've always been the popular one Luke, you know that." Nathan said checking the ball back to him.

"Yeah, we'll see who the popular one is once these kids see NBA star Nathan Scott getting schooled by his big brother."

"In your dreams."

They started playing one on one, full force not having to be easy on each other because the kids weren't involved this time. They were only suppose to go to ten until Luke reach ten first and Nathan declared he wanted to play to twenty.

"How's your heart?" Nathan asked, holding the ball when he noticed how hard Luke was breathing.

"My heart's fine." Luke said

"You sure?"

"I just haven't played like this in a while. Really, I'm fine."

"Alright but don't push yourself. I don't want to be the one to call Haley or Peyton if you drop dead."

Luke laughed as the game started again. The score was 17 to 19, with Luke in the lead. Both of them were so involved in the game that they hadn't noticed a group of people walk into the gym or the way Sawyer and Jamie were watching from the bleachers.

"I'm glad you guy's are staying." Jamie whispered to Sawyer, never taking his eyes off the game "It's going to be cool to have you around all the time."

Sawyer just looked up at him, think maybe it wouldn't be so bad to live in Tree Hill.

"And that's game point little brother." Lucas laughed when the ball went in.

"That, gentlemen, is 2/3 of the magic that helped me win state all those years ago." a voice said from behind them.

Luke turned to see Whitey standing there with a group of boy's standing behind him and a smile found it's way on to his face.

"This is so unfair. I have to help Whitey up front and he get's to play ball with Nate in the gym. I think you guy's have forgotten that it was ME who's helped with this thing for the past three years. Not Luke." Skill said

"Stop whinny, you sound like a little girl." Whitey said

"Sorry Coach." Skill's replied as Whitey sent a glare his way. Once he was out of ear shot, he said "I don't sound like no damn girl."

"You still do." Whitey call over his shoulder, letting him know he heard him. A smile crossed his face as he got closer to Luke and Nathan "I heard the oldest Scott boy had returned home. I was starting to wonder if it was true or not knowing that you always make a point to come see an old man when you're in town."

"Whitey." Luke said giving him a hug "Sorry, thing's have been busy but I was going to stop by and see you later tonight."

"Sure, you were." Whitey said "Peyton must have threaten to whip your ass if you didn't."

"Where the other 1/3 of the magic?' one kid asked from somewhere in the group.

"Man you're looking at it." Skill's said

"Well, I was going to say my coaching but yeah, he was pretty good to."

"Man Coach, that's low."

"Alright, alright." Nathan said stepping in "All you guy's can take some pine."

When the boys looked at each other confused, Jamie said "He mean's take a seat on the bleachers. You know, because their made of pine." the group started to sit down as Jamie looked at his Dad saying "Good Luck."

Whitey laughed saying "I knew I always liked that boy."

"Okay, first, for those of you who don't know I'm Nathan Scott, this is Skills, over here we have Coach Durham, yes you might have heard people refer to him as Whitey but in here, he's known as Coach Durham and last we have Lucas Scott. Let me be the first to welcome…"

As Nathan continued with his speech, Whitey and Lucas stood off to the side. Turning his head, he saw a blonde curly haired little girl sitting next to Jamie.

"I'll be damn," Whitey said "Is that Sawyer?"

Luke looked over and laughed "That's her."

"My god, if she isn't a spitting image of her mother." Whitey said with a smile "Lucky her."

"Thanks" Luke said "She act's just like her too."

"Lucky you." Whitey said. It wasn't any secret that Peyton had a spit-fire temper.

"Sawyer." Luke called out "Come here."

Sawyer stood up and started to walk toward them, glaring at her Dad, letting him know earlier hadn't been forgotten.

"You know, I think you have a special talent for pissing off pretty girls." Whitey said, remembering how often Luke had some girl mad at him in high school whether it was Brooke, Haley or Peyton.

"Nah, she's just mad because she just found out we're moving back home." Luke said. When he didn't hear a smart ass comment come for the man standing beside him, he looked over to see a smile on his face.

"Well, it's about damn time you came home."

Luke laughed as he picked up Sawyer, saying "Baby girl, I'd like you to meet Whitey."

_***One Tree Hill***_

"I mean, I knew she wasn't going to happy about moving away from Karen and them but I didn't expected her to run out of the house in tears. Maybe it was a bad choice to move back home. Sawyer was happy on the boat, we didn't have to worry about Dan just popping in, which I'm very surprised we haven't seen him yet and Andy's a great teacher. Sawyer would be fine. And don't even get me started on the staff at TRIC." Peyton said in one breath, staring at the person in the back seat.

"Cup" Liz said from her car seat.

Peyton shoulder slumped as she looked around for whatever 'cup' met. Finally she saw Liz' s sippy cup sitting in the cup holder and gave it to the little girl. Liz let out a giggle before taking a drink.

"I guess that mean's you don't know what to do either."

"Mama" Liz said

"I've already talked to your Mom. She said not to worry about it."

"Mama."

"Oh you see your Mom." Peyton said when she looked up to see Haley and two pizza guy's walk passed the side of the car heading towards the back, each holding five pizza boxes.

"How many people do you think are going to be at this thing?" Peyton asked once Haley had the back opened.

The pizza guy's started to laugh until they saw that Peyton was serious.

"I think everyone sends their boys to this thing. Just wait."

Peyton let out a little laugh as she turned to the front of the car. Once Haley paid the pizza guys, she got behind the driving wheel. The ride to the school was short. Haley got Liz out of the back seat as Peyton walked around to the back of the car to get the pizza.

"You don't have to do that."

"Well, I don't think the pizza going to grow some legs and walk themselves in there."

Haley laughed, saying "I know that but I've never once carried the pizza in. Come on."

Peyton gave her a look but followed her into the school. When they walked into the gym they saw the kids broke off into different groups, it looked by ages and they listen as Nathan, Lucas or Skills gave them directions.

"Oh my god." Peyton said as she looked at all the kids.

"I told you." Haley said as Nathan walked towards them.

"This is amazing Nate." Peyton said

"I know, it's something else, isn't it? When my agent suggested it, I didn't think very many people would show up, let alone this many." He said "It's time to eat already?"

"You said be here by four right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's four babe." Haley said pointing at the clock.

Nathan let out a laugh before blowing his whistle. The group he was directing, stopped and turned to look at him. He pointed at the two close boys and said "I need you two to help Haley."

The boy's nodded as Haley handed Liz to Peyton, saying "I think someone want's to talk to you."

"Well, if it isn't Peyton Sawy- Oh excuse me, Peyton Scott." Whitey said when Peyton turned around.

"Whitey." she laughed giving him a hug "It's really good to see you. I told Lucas we needed to stop and see you soon."

He laughed, saying "I'm sure you did. My god look at you. How is it possible that you get prettier and prettier every time I see you."

"You're not looking so bad there, yourself."

"Aww, that's nice of you to try and flatter an old man but you don't have to lie to my face."

Peyton let out laugh, saying "How've you been, Whitey?"

"Pretty good." he said before looking over at Sawyer "It looks like you've been doing pretty good too. That's a pretty girl you have there and smart to."

"Yeah, we think she's pretty cool." Peyton said looking over at Sawyer "She's a lot like Luke. Did he make her show you her free throw shot?"

"No, he didn't actually. He couldn't stop talking about how much she was like her mother" he said looking over at Peyton "I'm beginning to think that neither one of you really know your daughter." he finished with a smile, letting her know that he was joking "But I seen her shooting around with Jamie. She's got the Scott talent. There's no denying that."

"Yeah," Peyton said with a smile on her face as she watched Luke place Sawyer on his shoulders while Nathan told the groups to take a seat again. The smile soon fade when she remember the event's that occurred at the house.

"She's four Peyton." Whitey said as if he read her thoughts. Seeing the look on her face he laughed, saying "Luke told me about earlier. She's four and believe it or not kids get just as scared as adults when it come to the unknown. You and Luke know what to expect coming back home but Sawyer doesn't. To her, she's getting pulled away from the only thing she knows as home. She just needs time to adjust. If I were you, I might give Karen a call. She always seems to know what to say in these types of situation."

"That's what Haley said."

"Smart girl." Whitey said before pulling off his hat "I hope I'm not over stepping any binderies but I just want to say, your Mom would be proud Peyton. You're doing a great job. You and Luke. She's a great kid."

"Thanks' Whitey." Peyton said pulling him into another hug, biting her lower lip to stop the tears, that had welled up into her eyes, from falling "That really mean's a lot coming from you."

"None of that." he said with a soft laugh. He gave her a smile before turning to walk away. He stopped after a couple steps and turned to say "It's really good to have you two home."

She gave him a smile as she nodded her head, saying "I agree."

Whitey's laugh floated through the air but he quickly disappeared in the sudden crowd of boy's as they rushed out of the gym heading towards, where she guessed, the pizza was. Nathan appeared in the middle and scooped Liz out of her hands before telling her they'd be in the cafeteria. Lucas, with Sawyer still on his shoulders and Skills were taking their time, walking behind the crowd.

"Hey P. Scott." Skills said nodding his head at her as he walked towards the door. Just as he pushed it open, he turned to them, asking "You want me to take Sawyer? Get her some food?"

"Actually, I have to talk to Sawyer." Peyton said, giving him a smile "But thanks."

"You lose a kid one time and suddenly no one trust…" Skills voice fade as he walked out the door, shaking his head.

"Skills, I really didn't mean anything by it." Peyton said with laugh as he disappeared. Turning back to Luke, who had put a scared looking Sawyer back on the ground, she said "Tell him I'm sorry."

"Ah, he'll be fine." Luke said rubbing his hand's up and down her arm's "How are you?"

"I'm good." she said as she pulled out her phone.

Looking down at Sawyer, she reached out her hand. Sawyer took it without looking up and Luke looked at her confused as she put her phone up to her ear, walking towards the door. He followed them to the quad and sat down next to them at a table.

"Hey Karen." Peyton said causing both Sawyer and Luke to look at her surprised. "Are you busy because there a certain little girl that misses her Grandma…Alright hold on." Peyton pulled the phone away from her ear and handed it to a grinning Sawyer. She took it and walked a couple of feet away from her parents before sitting down on a bench, talking into the phone.

"Does my mom even know what's going on?" Lucas asked as he sat behind her, wrapping his arm's around her waist.

"It's Karen, Luke. She always knows when something going on."

He laughed lightly, placing a kiss on her temple, mumbling "Everything's going to be ok."

"I know," she said with a sigh "But it would be so much easier if she was happy about it."

He went to reply but closed his mouth when he saw Sawyer approaching them. She sat the phone down on the table before climbing on the seat. Putting her hands on her hips, she looked between her parents, almost if she was trying to decided something, finally saying "Can I write on the doors too?"

"Yes." Peyton said with a smile as Luke said "No."

Immediately, two glares were sent his way and he threw his arms up in surrender "Fine, she can write on the doors." he said, pointing a finger at Sawyer "Only, your closet doors."

Sawyer nodded in agreement as a smile found it's way across her face and she threw her arms around her mom's neck, almost hitting Luke in the face. They sat there for a minute, just the three of them, enjoying the moment before Luke stood up.

"Let's get some pizza before it's gone."

Peyton laughed as she took his hand and stood up before picking up Sawyer. They walked back into the high school, listen to Sawyer go on and on about what she wanted to do to her new room. He could have swore he heard Peyton mumble a 'thank you, Karen' some where along the way. Once they entered the cafeteria, Peyton nodded her head towards the table where Haley sat with Jamie, Liz, Skills and Whitey.

"I'm going to sit down. Will you grab us a piece?"

He nodded his head, placing a kiss on both of their head before walking towards the table the pizza was set on.

"Everything alright, Man?" Nathan asked nodding his head towards Sawyer and Peyton.

"Yeah" Luke said with a laugh "You still got that Realtors number?"

A smile crossed Nathan face as he nodded his head, saying "I'll get it for you when we get home."

Across the gym, they heard Haley exclaim "Oh my god" before wrapping her arms around Peyton neck, squishing Sawyer between them and matching grins appeared on Jamie, Whitey and Skills faces.


	7. It's time to celebrate

Just a little warning, this story is un-beta so all mistakes are mine, sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill….someone else does.

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews: crazyjan, grayfan, RJMoonspell4, Justine and LPfan4evr. They really do mean a lot to me.

* * *

_**It's time to celebrate…**_

"No." Brooke's raspy voiced echoed through her empty store "No, no, no. Stupid thing." she stopped talking as she hit the side of the computer "Why aren't you working?" she whined, stomping her heel clad foot on the ground " Gah… MILLIE!"

"What's wrong?" Millicent asked as she came around the corner.

"Oh, I'll tell you what's wrong." Brooke declared, waving a finger in Millie direction as she moved out of the way. Pointing at the computer, she said "This thing insist on my making my already bad day, worse."

Millicent tried to hide her smile as she walked up to the computer, hitting a couple of button as she said "When's Julian coming home?"

"He's coming home for the weekend in about a week." Brooke said as her face soften "I'm sorry, Millie."

"It's fine." she said with a soft laugh "What are you trying to do, anyway?"

"Well, I have to get the Scott's to sign the release forms for the pictures and I wanted to be able to show them what the pictures actually look like. So, I was trying to pull them up on the computer…" Brooke paused when she saw the slightly frown that fell upon Millie's face "What's wrong? Why are you frowning? Can you not pull up the finally designs? No, No, No." she said as she ran back over towards the computer "This can't be happening. Peyton and Haley are totally on broad but Luke and Nathan are still up in the air about it. I wanted…"

"Brooke." Millie exclaimed trying to calm her down "Everything's fine."

With that, she walked back around the corner, towards the back room and Brooke watched confused. A look of worry crossed her face when she heard something fall closely followed by Millie letting out a groan. She was about to ask if everything was alright, when Millie suddenly rushed back out, carrying a large packaged in her arms, causing Brooke to jump back startled.

"I thought you saw these last night."

"Do I want to know what fell in the back?" Brooke asked, bracing herself for bad news.

"Huh? Oh no, that was just a box of samples I'll clean it up in a minute." she said ripping the paper off "Now, they're not true to size but they're big enough to get an actual feel of what they're going to look like." she said as she lined up five different poster broads.

"Millie." Brooke said breathless as a smile appeared in her face "They're precious. Definitely, the right five pose's, don't you thin?."

"Definitely." Millie repeated

The five poster broads were the examples of the five images everyone had agree upon for the Clothes over Bros, Kids ad campaign. In one, Sawyer stood out side, surrounded by flower's, a stem in one hand and the other stretched above her head, throwing a hand full of peddles up in the air as a huge smile played across her face.

In another, Jamie stood on a basketball court, trying to spin the ball on one finger, a look of concentration on his face. At first, the photographer veto the picture because of the look on Jamie's face but Brooke over ruled him, pointing out that you could see the outfit perfectly besides, Jamie Scott still looked handsome as hell.

The last single shot was Liz. The staff had taking a break and Liz had wobbled along a wooded fence, her hand rested on the bottom rail. She let out a giggle and reached for a butterfly that had fluttered in front of her, just out of arms reach. Luckily, the photographer, who had been keeping a watch full eye on the situation, quickly snap a couple of pictures, hoping he had caught the moment and Brooke let out a squeal when he called her over to preview the shot.

The last two were of all three kids. In one Jamie was walking backwards, up a hill, pulling the handle of a wagon that Liz sat in with Sawyer behind it, her hands gripping the back as she tried with all her might to help push it. The last was all three of them simply standing in a line, in front of a back drop. Liz was standing to the far left, clapping her hands as she looked up at Sawyer, who was obviously laughing at something as she looking up at Jamie, who was looking directly into the camera with an innocent smile on his face.

Of course, each image had the logo for Clothes over Bros, Kids on it some where and in every picture, the kids were dressed in the newest line. But no one could deny that these certain pictures were close to Brooke's heart and she couldn't be happier with the way they turned out.

"You know for someone who missed their best friend as much as you claim, you sure are a hard person to get a hold of. Hi Mille." Peyton said as she walked into the store, sending Millie a wave. It was then she noticed the tears in Brooke's eyes and a look of worry crossed her face "Brooke, Honey, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

"No, everything's fine." Brooke said, running her finger under her eyes to stop any tear from falling. Motioning towards the poster broads, she said "I was just looking at the finally prints for the new ad campaign."

"Brooke Baker, these are amazing." Peyton exclaimed as she looked them over.

"I know, right." She said with a smile as she walked around the counter, picking up a piece of paper, holding it out for Peyton to take "I just need to you sign this."

"What's this?" she asked as she tore her eyes away from the pictures and took the pen from Brooke.

"The release form for my amazing pictures."

Peyton let out a laugh as she signed the paper, pushing it to the side as she bent down to get a closer look. Picking the one up of Sawyer, she looked over at Brooke, saying "Oh, I'm so keeping this."

"No way, Missy." Brooke said walking back around the counter before snatching the broad out of Peyton hands "Sorry, but these are going up in here."

"Did you tell her yet?" Haley asked as she came in the door "Hey Millie."

"Haley, look at these." Peyton said pointing to the picture as Millie waved at her.

"Tell me what?" Brooke asked, grabbing another piece of paper off the counter.

"Oh my god," Haley exclaimed "Brooke these are amaz-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. We've been through that." Brooke said handing the paper to Haley "Tell me what?"

"Gees," Haley said looking over at Peyton as she took the paper "What's this?"

"It's the stupid release form for the pictures. Now, someone better tell me what Haley was talking about." Brooke exclaimed

Peyton and Haley shared a look before Haley looked down to sign the paper and Peyton looked at Brooke, saying "Well if you were a better best friend, you would know Lucas and I put an offer in on the house."

"What?" Brooke asked excitedly "Really when?"

"Two day's ago. We would've done it sooner but we had to wait for the inspection guy to finish." Peyton said as she started to flip through some of Brooke latest designs she had laying on the counter "But I'm a little worried. Luke being Luke offered less then the asking price so I'm not sure if the owner's are going to take it."

"I wouldn't worry about that." Haley said handing the paper back to Brooke

"Why do you say that?" Peyton asked with a laugh.

"I just wouldn't." Haley said, sending her a smile.

"What did you do Haley James Scott?" Brooke asked with a smile "and why wasn't I included in this little scheme?"

"I didn't do anything." Haley said a little to innocently "Let's get back to these pictures. When are they going up?"

Brooke and Peyton share a look before tuning back to Haley.

"You are so lying." Peyton said with a smile "Tell us what you did."

Haley was about to defend herself again but was interrupted by Millicent setting down a bottle of champagne and four glasses.

"I thought we could celebrate. Brooke's new ad campaign and Peyton and Lucas getting-"

"May be getting." Peyton said "Or are you in on whatever Haley's up to?"

Millie looked around confused having missed the last part of the conversation.

"It doesn't matter." Brooke said as she opened the bottle "It's time to celebrate."

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Hit x, Uncle Lucas. Hit x." Jamie cried from his spot on the couch.

"I am, I am."

"His coaching isn't going to help you." Nathan said hitting a button on his controller.

"Man Luke, Nate's kicking your ass." Skills add

"Thanks man. I hadn't noticed." Lucas mumbled causing Skills to laugh.

"I'd just give up if I were you." Andre said from his spot next to Jamie, mostly because he wanted to adults to let them play the game, again.

"Ha." Nathan exclaimed when the screen flashed that he had won as he gave Skills a high five.

"I give up." Lucas said, setting the controller on the table. Skills went to grab it but Andre snatched it up, sending a glare at him.

"Go head little man." Skills said, pulling his hand away.

The rest of them laughed as Nathan handed the controller back to Jamie. Luke's phone started to ring and he made a face, not recognizing the number on the caller id. Flipping it open, he stood up from the couch and walked towards the kitchen for some privacy before answering it.

"Hello?" he said confused and turned back to the living room to see Nathan watch him "Oh, hi. How are you doing?…Really?" he said surprised, sending a look at Nathan, who by now had got off the couch and was making his way towards the kitchen, getting the attention of Skills. "Yeah, that's sound like her….Tomorrow morning? Yeah, we'll be there….Okay, no thank you. By."

"What's going on?" Nathan asked

Luke stared down at the phone in his hand in disbelief, saying "We got the house."

This caused everyone to stop what they were doing and look at Luke. It was Skills who broke the silence, looking down at Sawyer, holding out his hand for a high five, saying "Alright, Little Sawyer's here to stay."

She smiled up at him, giving him a high five before looking back at her Dad who was still staring down at the phone in disbelief. "I gotta call Peyton."

"Hold on, Man." Nathan said as his phone beeped, reading the text messages "Hales just sent a text saying we need to get to Brooke's store. They're together, you can tell her there."

Lucas nodded his head as he started to walk towards the door, kissing the top of Sawyer's head as he pasted, saying "I'll be back in a little while."

"Okay Daddy." she said giving him a smile.

"Wait a minute." Skills called out as he followed him to the door "Who's watching the kids?"

Nathan and Luke raised an eyebrow at him as Nate pointed a finger at him, saying "You."

Over hearing this, Andre and Jamie shared a smile before looking over at Liz and Sawyer. "Come on." Jamie whispered to Sawyer as he picked up Liz and all four of them disappeared from the room.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Skills said "I really don't want to have to deal with both Mrs. Scott's if something happens"

"Relax." Lucas said "You're at Nate's house. Just don't let them get outside and you should be okay."

"I wouldn't take my eyed off of them for to long or they'll disappear." Nathan warned as they walked out the door.

Skills shoulders slumped as he walked back towards the living room "Alright guy's, you can't…Damn it." he said once he made it to the living room only to see it empty "Jamie…Andre…Sawyer….Liz….Come on, one of you have to be around here."

He walked into the kitchen and looked out over the back yard. Not seeing any off the kids, he locked the door before making his way down the hallway, yelling "This isn't funny."

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Finally!" Brooke exclaimed as Nathan and Lucas walked in.

"What's going on?" Nathan asked when he saw the glass of champagne.

"Oh, we're celebrating." Brooke said as she stood up, grabbing their hands and pulling the further into the store "What do you think?" she fished moving out of the way so they could see the pictures.

"Wow." Lucas said after a few seconds.

"Yeah." Nathan said in agreement.

"I'm glad you like them." Brooke said with a smile as she shoved a piece of paper at both of them "I need you to sign these."

"What's this?"

"The release forms for the pictures." Millie, Peyton and Haley all said at the same time.

Luke and Nathan looked over at a Brooke, who just rolled her eyes, causing them to smile as they signed the paper before handing them back to her.

"Well since we're celebrating, " Lucas said, reaching down and grabbing Peyton hand, pulling her up sop she was standing next to him, he wrapped his arm around her waist, looking down at her, saying "We got the house."

Haley smile, Brooke let out a squeal and Peyton looked shocked as she repeated "We got the house."

"We got the house." Lucas confirmed with a smile before giving her a kiss.

"How? When? Are you sure?" Peyton asked, totally surprised that they heard back this quick.

"Well apparently," he said, looking over at Haley "Someone called the girl that use to live there and told her who wanted to buy the house. She called her parent and told them they had to except the offer. That it was fate."

"You didn't." Peyton said, looking over at Haley.

"You guy's really wanted that house and I didn't want you to not get it because Lucas is a cheapskate. I had to do something."

Lucas sent a glare at Haley as Peyton wrapped her arms around her neck, saying "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"How'd you get her number anyway?" Lucas asked

"Please, it's Tree Hill. If you want to know something, all you have to do it ask around."

"Alright," Millie said, handing a glass to Nathan and Lucas "Here's to Brooke's kick ass ad campaign and to Lucas and Peyton, finally come home for good."

Everyone raised their glasses, clinking them together.

_***One Tree Hill***_

_Three weeks later…_

Lucas sat at the table, in his kitchen reading over an e-mail from his editors office. They had signed the papers on the house but Peyton had decided she wanted to paint the inside before they moved anything in. So, they waited for the paper work to go through, got the key's and have been busy getting the house together.

The only problem with this was Sawyer had been spending a lot of time other people. Not that,_ that_ was a problem, Lucas and Peyton were thrilled that she was adjusting so easily, especially after her freak out when they told her they were staying. No, the problem was, she wasn't used to spending so much time away from them. So, Peyton came up with the idea that, once all the other rooms were done, her and Sawyer would go to the store and she would let her pick out the paint for her room and they would paint it together. Sawyer was the one who told Lucas he couldn't come with them, with her hands on her hips, when he tried to get into the car earlier. So, he waited at home, praying that they wouldn't come home with that blood red color Peyton was so fond of when she was younger.

"Hi Daddy." Sawyer exclaimed walking into the kitchen, carry a couple of paint brushes.

"Hey Baby." he said, scooping her up in his arms when she tried to run by him, causing her to giggle. He looked up to see Peyton come in, carrying two paint cans. He sent her smile before looking back down at Sawyer, tickling her stomach, saying "What colors did you pick?"

"It's a surprise." she said as she wiggle out of his grasp "Come on, Momma."

"Please tell me it's not red." he said as Peyton lean over to give him a kiss.

She giggle when she pulled away, saying "It's a surprise." before following after Sawyer.

"Make sure the window's are opened." He called after them causing them to look back at him "You're already on a paint fume high, our four year old doesn't need to be."

Peyton gave him an offend look, saying "Come on, Baby girl."

"I'm not joking." he called out only to hear Sawyer giggle echo through the house making him assume Peyton had made some smart ass comment as the walked up the stairs "I'll come up there to check, Sawyer." he finished, using that name to let them know he was talking to both of them.

"No peaking, Daddy." Sawyer exclaimed "It's a surprise."

And he didn't, for the first couple of hour at least. But hearing them laughing from upstairs made him feel left out. He answered a couple of e-mails and decided to go outside and mess around with his car but their giggle echo through the summer air. Finally, he gave into temptation and made his way upstairs. He stood in the door way, crossing her arms over his chest, waiting for them to noticed him. The room was painted purple with white trim. The closet doors had been painted white again and Peyton was standing behind Sawyer helping her write her name on it, in purple paint.

"Look's good in here, ladies." he finally said, causing them to turn around

"Daddy!" Sawyer exclaimed, running towards him.

"Don't pick….Never mind." Peyton said with a laugh as Luke caught Sawyer in his arms.

Looking over at her, he raised an eyebrow, noticing she was covered in paint. Pulling Sawyer away from his body, he saw a purple spot on his shirt and he heard Peyton trying to cover up her laughter.

"Good thing it's not a good shirt, right?" Peyton said with a smile.

Sawyer reached out and cupped his face with her small hands, forcing him to look at her before saying "Do you like it Daddy?"

Between Peyton snort and the wet feeling on his face, he assumed he had two purple hand prints on the side of his face. He nodded his head, giving Sawyer a smile as he sat her down on the ground before walking towards the bathroom only to discover that he was right. When he looked back out the door, Peyton and Sawyer stood there trying to cover up their laughter.

"Oh, you think this is funny." he said walking towards at paint brush.

"Lucas Scott, don't you dare." Peyton warned, standing behind Sawyer who was giggling.

"Do what?" he asked innocently before swing the brush around, making paint splatter down the front of Peyton just missing Sawyer because she moved out of the way.

"Okay, you want to play that game?' Peyton said before picking up a brush of her own, dipping in a can of paint before walking up to him and painting a x on the front of his shirt.

He looked down for a second before looking back up at her, squinting his eye as he reached down for the paint can. Peyton eyes went wide as she turned to duck around him. Sawyer giggled as she reach down to pick up her own paint can. Realizing that it was to heavy for her to carry, she dipped her hands into and ran towards her mom, grabbing her pants.

"Daddy," Peyton said looking down at Sawyer "Get Daddy."

"Hey." Luke said.

Sawyer let out another giggle as she dipped her hands in the can of paint before running at him. Twenty minutes later, the paint can's and trays were empty and the Scott family laid in the middle of the floor, covered in paint. Peyton head rested on Lucas shoulder as Sawyer took a seat on his stomach. White and purple paint splatter cover the purple walls.

"You are so helping me clean this up." Peyton said, breathlessly before hitting him lightly in the chest "And then you can repaint all the walls to."

"I like it." Sawyer said after she looked around "Can we keep it like this?"

"You got it." Peyton said before he could protest "but we need to get you in the shower before this paint dries."

Sawyer smile before getting off him and walked towards _her_ bathroom, a fact that she pointed out to everyone that has stopped over to see the house. Peyton went to stand up but Luke grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back down to him.

"Lucas." she laughed before his lips meant her for a sweet kiss. When she pulled away, she gave him a smile before saying "What was that for?"

"I love you." he said, staring her in the eyes.

"I love you to." she said, leaning in to give him another kiss.

"Mmm." he said as she pulled away "I got an e-mail from my editor today."

"Okay." she said wondering why he brought that up at right now, as the laid covered in paint in the middle of their daughters room.

"They finally realized I was back in the states and want me to come to New York for a meeting."

"Oh," she said as she started to play with the button on his shirt.

"I think they want to talk about another book tour."

"For _The Miracle_?" when he nodded she went on "Well, that a good thing, right?"

"I don't know. The one for _The Comet _didn't go to well. I don't know if I can handle that again Besides, that would mean being away from you and Sawyer and we just moved home, I really don't want to take off again."

"Luke." Peyton interrupted his rambling "For all you know, they could want to fire you."

"Thanks." he said causing her to laugh.

"Seriously, just go. You won't know what they want until you do." she said smiling at him "If it's for a tour then we'll deal with it."

"I told them I can't come out until we're settled here."

"What they say?"

"They wanted me there with in the next two weeks."

"Momma, the paint's drying." Sawyer called out from the bathroom.

"I'm coming." she laughed before looking back down at Luke "We'll be all moved in by then."

"You sure you wouldn't mind? I'd probably be gone for a couple days."

"As long as you come home." she said giving him one last kiss before standing up and walking towards the bathroom. Resting her head against the door frame, she said "Hey, " she wait until he turned to look at her before going on "it's gonna be alright. Besides, Momma needs you to make her some money."

Luke laughed as she sent him a wink before disappearing into the bathroom. He wasn't sure Peyton realized just how much he'd be gone if they wanted him to do another book tour, because he only went to one stop for _The Comet_ before coming home and she wasn't around when he was on the one for _Ravens._ Also, he wasn't so sure he wanted to leave his family for that long. But none the less, he pulled out his phone to call and set up a meeting with his editor. Like she had said, it wouldn't hurt to see what they had in mind.


	8. Shh, it's a secret

Just a little warning, this story is un-beta so all mistakes are mine, sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill….someone else does.

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews: Juzzy88, AnnOTH21, LPfan4ever, DanielNieves, OTHGirl24, crazyjan, Oura29 and Peyton4ever. They really do mean a lot to me.

* * *

_**Shh…It's a secret**_

"Aunt…Pey…ton." Peyton drawled out, holding Liz in her lap "Come on, you can say it, Aunt Peyton."

"Mama." Liz said with a giggle, causing Peyton to frown.

"Come on, kid. Uncle Luke swore he heard you say his name the other day and I'll never live it down if you did."

"Uke." Liz giggle

Peyton narrowed her eyes, saying "Traitor."

Haley laughed as she walked into the office, saying "Why are you giving my daughter the evil eye?"

"Because she thinks it's funny to say Luke's name before she can say mine."

"Peyton," Haley laughed "Lucas and Nathan sat with her for three hours the other day trying to get her to say his name."

"Well, it work." Peyton said, making a face at Liz causing her to giggle as she reached for Peyton nose "Because she just said it."

"Really?" Haley asked excitedly, walking towards the desk "Come on baby, say it for Momma. Uncle Luke."

"Uke." Liz giggle, reaching her hand for Haley "Mama."

"Good girl, baby." she exclaimed, taking Liz into her arms when she noticed the look Peyton was giving her "Hey, I don't care who's name she said first. I just care that she talking more."

"Sawyer said Haley first." Peyton said, raising an eyebrow at her "and that's because I made sure she did. You could at least help me out."

"Well, just make sure the next one says Nate first and we'll be even." Haley said with a laugh until she saw Peyton face and she quickly somber up, saying "I'm so sorry, Peyton. I didn't think abo-"

"It's fine." she cut her off, giving her a smile "Really Hales, it's fine."

Biting her lower lips, she gave Peyton's shoulder a reassuring squeeze as she said "Have you guy's ever talked about having another one? I thought the doctor said there was a possibility, if you got pregnant again, everything would be fine."

"Could be." Peyton corrected her "He said everything could be fine. I mean, sure I've thought about it. I would love to give Luke a son. Or even another daughter but…" she trailed off letting out a deep breath before looking Haley in the eye "When I was pregnant with Sawyer and all that stuff was going on, I came to terms with the fact that she might not have me growing up. Don't get me wrong, if I could go back in time, I wouldn't change anything. I would still fight Luke to keep her but now that it's done and I watch them together or even just her, I couldn't do it again. I mean there's already times when Luke will send her to me because he has no idea how to answer certain question that she asks and that just going to increase as she get's older. I can't even tell you how many times I wished I had my mom around growing up because I didn't feel comfortable enough to go to my dad about something. I can't be put in that position again where the doctors are telling me that I have to choose between the life of my baby or mine because this time around, I would have to chose mine."

Haley gave her a sad smile before asking "What about Luke? I mean you said you thought about it but, has he?"

Peyton let out a deep breath, saying "Honestly, I don't know. The only time we've ever talked about it was right after we found out what was going on with pregnancy. I mean, he said we could try again but in the next sentence he said we could adopt because we never would have-"

"Met if your parents didn't adopt." Haley finished for her "Yeah, he told me about that after the crash when you two finally came clean about everything. You gotta give it to the guy. He can come up with some pretty good lines."

"Yeah, he can." Peyton said with a smile "But when you live on a boat, with a baby, you really don't think about having another one, you know what I mean. And then when she big enough to where you're think, _hey she might want a borther or sister_, she tries to walk off the side of the boat and you think again."

"Ok, look." Haley laughed, handing Liz back to Peyton "If you can get her to say something that even resembles your name, we'll tell Luke she said that first."

"Thank you Haley." she said with a smile "Come on, kid. Aunt….Peyton."

"Uke' Liz giggled

"Good luck." Haley said with a laugh.

"Momma," Sawyer said appearing out of no where "I'm hungry."

"Where'd she come from?" Haley said looking around, pretty sure she hadn't seen Sawyer when she first walked in.

"She wanted to see what all the neat button do in the studio." Peyton said, smiling over at Sawyer "So, John took her in there to show her."

"See, she is like you….a little bit." Haley said causing Peyton to laugh sarcastically. Reaching out her hand, she said "Come on, Sawyer. I'll get you some food. Your Momma's on a mission."

Peyton laughed, sending a wink at Sawyer as she took Haley's hand. They started walking towards the door and Sawyer looked over her shoulder before looking up at Haley, saying "Aunt Haley, Liz is your baby right?"

Sending a questioned look back to Peyton, Haley said "Yeah baby, she's mine. Why?"

"Because I don't like to share Momma and Daddy." Sawyer answered

Haley let out another laugh as Peyton just shook her head. It was more then obvious Sawyer enjoyed being an only child. They made their way out of the studio and headed down the stairs.

"So, what do you want for lunch?" Haley asked, picking Sawyer up and placing her in a chair at a table.

"Grilled cheese." Sawyer answered with a smile.

"Alright." Haley said as she started to walk away.

"With a pickle." Sawyer added, causing Haley to nodded her head "And fries."

Haley raised an eyebrow before saying "and milk to drink?"

"I guess."

Haley laughed as she walked towards the kitchen to put in Sawyer's order. By the time she walked back out, Sawyer had found a crayon and was drawling on a napkin.

"Okay, Sawyer. I told the cook what you wanted and he said it should be done in a minute." she said, setting a glass of milk in front of her "What are you drawling?"

"Momma." Sawyer said, showing Haley the picture that was nothing more then a stick figure.

"Beautiful." Haley said with a smile.

"Haley!" Peyton voice echoed through the empty club "Come here."

Rolling her eyes, she looked down at Sawyer saying "It seems your mom need's me for something. Are you going to be alright down here by yourself for a minute?"

Sawyer nodded her head, taking a drink of her milk before going back to her napkin. Haley ran her hand through Sawyer's curls before walking towards the stairs when Peyton called for her again.

"What?" Haley said walking back into the office.

Peyton looked up, giving her a smile before looking to Liz again, saying "Come on baby. Say it again. Aunt Peyton."

"On." Liz giggled

"See, she said it."

"Peyton, she just said on." Haley laughed

"Oh no, you said anything that resembles my name and let's face it Peyton is a mouth full for a one in half year old. Besides, she only said the end of Luke's name. On is the end of mine."

_Meanwhile in the kitchen…_

"Hey man, this is for Peyton's little girl. Can you take it out to her?" the cook asked

A smirk founded it's way on to the man's face as he nodded his head, picking up the plate and walking out of the kitchen.

"Hey Sawyer." he said as he approached the table.

Sawyer looked up and smiled slightly. She knew he worked here, having seen him around one of the many times she had came here with Peyton or Luke but, she wasn't to sure of his name and this was the first time he had ever talked to her.

"Thank you." she said softly when he put the food down in front of her.

"How are you?" he asked, taking a seat across from her.

Sawyer looked up at the man, unsure of what to say. Everyone's always told her not to talk to strangers but then again, she's seen her parent's and her aunt talk to this man so she assumed it would be alright to talk to him. "Good. How are you?"

"I'm alright." he said giving her a smile "How's your mom?"

"She's upstairs with Aunt Haley and Liz." she answered before taking a bite of her sandwich.

He nodded and looked over his shoulder to see the door to the studio shut. A smile crossed his face again as he turned back to look at her, asking "How's your Dad?"

"Daddy's good."

"Really? Because I heard his heart wasn't doing to good."

Sawyer stopped mid-bite and looked at the man, wondering what he was talking about. She knew her Dad went to the doctors so they could check on his heart because he made her go with him one time so they could check hers but, every time she asked how his heart was doing, he would say his heart was good.

"Daddy's hearts fine." she said in a small voice.

"That's not what I heard." the man said making an serious face "I heard his heart was doing really bad. I hope he doesn't leave you."

"Where would he go?" Sawyer asked, dropping her sandwich to the plate as tears filled her eyes.

The man had to bit his tongue to hold back the smile that wanted to cross his face. This was exactly the type of reaction he wanted. "Well, if his heart isn't doing good, it could kill him."

"You're lying." Sawyer exclaimed, glaring at the man.

"Sawyer, why would I lie to you?" he asked, giving her a sincere face "I over heard your parents talking about. Why do you think they wanted to move home? Your Daddy can't live on a boat anymore. They said they want to keep it a secret so nobody would worry about him."

Sawyer vision was burly because of the tears, she didn't know this man's name but she knew she didn't like him.

"They said you were being a bad girl." he added, knowing what kind of hell that simple statement could cause.

Sawyer's eye went wide as a single tear escaped, falling down her cheek. A commotion from upstairs caught their attention and the man looked over his shoulder before looking back to her, leaning over the table, putting his finger to his lips, saying "Shh…It's a secret."

Sawyer watched the man retreat back into the kitchen. She knew the importance of a secret. Lilly had explained that the first time she put make-up on her, saying it was a secret and not matter what, you could never tell a secret. Sure, Luke found out, you really couldn't miss a four year old that looked like a clown but, Sawyer didn't tell him. That man had told her it was a secret and, supposedly, that's what her parent's said.

Suddenly, she didn't want to eat downstairs. So, she picked up the glass in one hand and the plate in the other before struggling to get down from the chair. Her short legs couldn't reach the ground, so she had to drop off the edge of the chair causing her to drop everything that was in her hands. Her eyes immediately went wide and she quickly stood up and reached for the napkin. Once she pulled it off the table, she quickly kneeled down, wanting to clean up the mess as fast as she could.

"Sawyer," she heard causing her to look up and see Haley standing on the sitars "What happened?

"I'm sorry, Aunt Haley." Sawyer exclaimed, the tears she had been holding back, now freely falling down her face "I'm cleaning it up."

A look of concern washed over Haley's face as she knelled down so she was eye level with her and grabbed her gently by the shoulders, making her look at her, saying "Sawyer, Honey, it's alright. It was just an accident."

"Sawyer?" Peyton called out softly, seeing her daughter's tear stain face.

Sawyer rushed past her aunt and made a mad dash up the stairs, heading towards her mother. Peyton looked at Haley, wondering what was going on and Haley just shrugged her shoulders, watching Sawyer with concerned eyes. Not wanting to set Liz down so close to the stairs, Peyton sat on the floor and Sawyer immediately buried her head in her mom neck.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Peyton asked, smooth down Sawyer's hair.

"I want Daddy." Sawyer exclaimed before bursting into tears.

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Yeah, that sounds good." Luke said into the phone when he heard the front door open. He walked out into the hallway and gave Peyton a smile. One that fade fast when he felt Sawyer wrapper her tiny arms tightly around his leg. Rubbing the top of her head, he sent Peyton a look before saying into the phone "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow."

Flipping the phone shut, he shoved it into his pocket before breaking Sawyer's death grip on his legs so he could pick her up. Her tight grip immediately return around his neck as she buried her head into his neck and that's when he felt the tears hit his skin.

"Sawyer, what's wrong?" he asked, gently.

"I'll be a good girl, Daddy. I promise." she said in a trembling voice.

Peyton just shrugged her shoulders, letting him know she had no idea what was going on. Rubbing his hand up and down her back, he said "Sawyer, you are a good girl. The best."

"Is your heart good?" she asked, her voice quivering.

That simple statement alarmed Luke. They made it a point not to talk about his heart in front of her, not wanting to scare her but she knew something was going on with his heart. They had to explain that much when they took her to get tested for HCM.

"Sawyer, I need you to look at me." he requested, pulling her body a little way away from him. Taking her hand in his, he place it over his heart, asking "You feel that?"

Finally looking him in the eye, Sawyer nodded and Luke felt his heart break at her tear stained face.

"Good," he said nodding his head "Then you know my heart's fine."

Tears welled up in her eyes again and she exclaimed "I don't want you to leave." Before wrapping her arms around his neck again.

"Baby Girl," Peyton said, walking towards them "Daddy's not going…" she trailed off when she saw the look Luke was giving her.

"I leave in the morning for New York." he said, closing his eyes when Sawyer's grip tighten around his neck.

"No!" she exclaimed "Daddy, I'll be good, I promise. Please don't leave. Pretty please."

Luke walked into the living room and sat down on the couch before saying "Sawyer, I have to go meet with the people that help me with my books."

"My book?" they heard her mumbled against his neck.

"Yeah Baby, your book." Peyton said, smooth down the hair on the back of her head, hoping they were making some leeway with her "Daddy's come home."

"No!" she exclaimed, burying her head further in to his neck "I don't want you to leave."

"Sawyer," Luke started but had to stop to sallow the lump that had formed in his throat "Why don't you want me to leave?"

Sawyer's eyes went wide against his neck. The man had told her it was a secret and she knew she wasn't suppose to tell secrets but she wanted to, badly. Instead, she wrapped her arms tighter around his neck.

They tired to get her to tell them what was going on and why she was so adamant that Luke didn't leave but she never said more then she would be good or that she didn't want him to leave. They put on her favorite cartoon, hoping that would help pull her away from Luke a little bit but it didn't. She didn't even look at the tv, she just kept her face buried in his neck. Knowing that she didn't eat anything at TRIC, Peyton made dinner and even then, she ended up sitting on Luke's lap the entire time. Once she was done, she quickly reclaimed her spot against his chest and they decided it would be for the best to drop the subject for a little while.

So, they sat on the couch, the tv on some random channel. Sawyer clinging to Luke and Peyton rested her head against his shoulder, wrapping her arms around the both of them. He had one arm wrapped around Sawyer and the other was rested around Peyton, holding his girls close, wondering what in the hell happen in the three hours they were at TRIC.

"She out." he mumbled when he felt Sawyer's steady breath against his neck.

Peyton eyes traveled to the clock to see that it was past 9 and nodded as she sat up, saying "Go ahead and put her to bed. I'll be up in a minute."

He nodded, kissing her forehead softly before he stood up and made his way upstairs. Once he was in Sawyer's room, he changed her into her pajama, thankfully she wasn't a light sleeper. Making sure she was tucked into bed, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead, rubbing his thumb gently against her cheek that was still raw from all the tears she cried earlier. He walked to the door and turned to look at her one last time as he flicked the light off. And that's were Peyton found him a couple of minutes later. Resting against her door frame, arms crossed over his chest, watching her sleep with concern fill eyes.

"Hey baby," she whispered, walking up besides him, running her hand up his back.

He looked over at her surprised before wrapping his arm around her, pulling her close to him, asking "What happen today?"

"I really don't know, Luke. She went down stairs with Haley to get something to eat and the next thing we know, she sobbing because she dropped a plate. She looked scared Luke. Like she was in a lot of trouble because of a simple accident."

"Did someone say something to her? I mean, why'd she ask about my heart?" he asked, looking down at Peyton.

Shaking her head, she said "No, no one was around."

"Could she have heard you and Haley talking about it?"

"Well, we would've had to of been talking about it first." She pointed out, wrapping her arms around him from the side.

He nodded his head as he gave his daughter one last look before pulling the door closed, leaving it open a crack. They walked towards their bedroom and he stripped down before getting into bed, resting his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Peyton frowned as she climbed into bed and rested her head against his chest, listen to his heart beat.

"I'm going to call my editor in the morning and rescheduled the meeting." he suddenly said.

She lifted her head to look at him, saying "They've been calling non-stop for a week, Luke. You're not going to be able to get out this."

"I'll just tell them I have a family emergence." he said, shrugging his shoulders.

She sat up and looked at him, her finger-tip dancing on his chest, asking "How many day's were you going to be gone?"

Rolling his eyes, he let out a breath before saying "Two day's. I have a meeting right after I land and then one around 3 the next day. I was going to fly home after that."

Placing a soft kiss on his bare shoulder, she looked up at him, saying "Luke, you have to go."

Letting out a groan, he went to sit up only to have her put her hand on his shoulder, making him lay back down before cupping his face, making him look at her, saying "I get it, baby. But you know as well as I do, even if they say it's alright, in a few day's the phone going to be ring off the hook again. Just go get it over with. But if you could, try and push the two meeting into one day and make it home tomorrow night, that would be great."

He looked at her for a couple of seconds as he reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, saying "I'm coming home tomorrow night whether they can fit the meeting's into one day or not."

Peyton nodded her head before leaning down and giving him a kiss. When she pulled away, she force a smile but, could tell by the way he was looking at her, he knew. Because all she really wanted to do was call his editors and tell them to shove it. She rested her head back against his chest, both of them wondering, what the hell happen to Sawyer.


	9. Thanks, Aunt Brooke

Just a little warning, this story is un-beta so, all mistakes are mine, sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill…someone else does.

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews: caty326, crazyjan, OTHGirl24, HJS-NS-23, Leytonloveforever, grayfan, RJMoonspell4, LPfan4ever, Juzzy88, skylove, AnnOTH21, ashley and StarlightSweetheart. They really do mean a lot to me.

* * *

_**Thanks, Aunt Brooke…**_

Luke walked towards the kitchen, letting out a yawn. Needless to say, none of them got a good night's sleep last night. And that much was obvious as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen to see Sawyer sitting at the table, looking down at her bowl cereal, stirring her spoon around in the milk. Peyton let out a yawn as she turned around and jumped a little when she saw him standing there.

"I can't find my lap-top bag." Luke said softly, sending a look at Peyton.

"Really?" Peyton said, raising an eyebrow at Sawyer.

Letting out a deep breath, Sawyer got down from her chair and walked to the back porch. They shared a look before Sawyer came back in the house, struggling to carry the lap-top bag. Setting it down at his feet, she refused to look up at him.

He pushed the bag off to the side and bent down, so they were eye level, pulling her into a tight hug, saying "I'll be home tonight, Baby girl."

The door bell stopped any reply Sawyer had and she simply tighten her grip around his neck.

"I'll get it." Peyton said softly as she walked towards the door.

"Any bag, Miss?" The driver asked when she open the door.

"No." Lucas said, appearing behind her.

The driver nodded, giving them a smile before telling him he'd be in the car and walked away. Peyton looked over, giving Luke a smile, one that resembled the one from last night and one look in his eyes told her, she wasn't fooling anyone. Closing her eyes, she whispered "God, this sucks."

He pulled her to him, Sawyer in the middle of them and placed a kiss on the side of her head, saying "Yeah, it does."

After a couple of minutes of enjoying the embrace, Peyton pulled away and wiped the corner of her eyes, saying "Alright, you gotta go. Come here, Baby."

"No." Sawyer exclaimed, tighten her grip on Luke, burying her head further into his neck.

He closed his eyes, letting out sigh and Peyton knew he was getting to the point where he was going to give into Sawyer and not leave. When he open his eyes Peyton smiled before leaning in to kiss him.

"I love you." she said as they pulled away from each other.

Resting his forehead against her, he said "I love you to."

"By Uncle Lucas." Jamie said as he rushed past them, heading into the house "Have fun in New York."

Lucas raised an eyebrow at Peyton before turning to look over his shoulder to see Nathan walking towards them and Haley getting Liz out of the back seat. Nathan looked at Luke's helpless face and decided to step in. He knew Sawyer had been acting strange, Haley told him about the incident at TRIC, and having some experience with leaving his family, he thought it might be a good idea to come over and try to help out. Especially after Luke called this morning to let him know he was leaving for New York but, he had to admit, Jamie never clanged to him the way Sawyer was to Luke.

Reaching out, he tickled Sawyer's side causing her to instantly let go of Luke's neck. Nathan expected her to smile a little or let out a little giggle but he never expected her to wrap her arms around his neck, tightly before busting into tears. Like she knew, no matter what, someone was going to get her away from Luke. So, she just gave in.

Giving Luke a pat on the shoulder, Nathan turned to walk into the house, knowing it would be a lot easier for him to get into the cab if he didn't have to watch his daughter body shake with sobs. Peyton gave him a sad smile and one last kiss on the cheek before disappearing into the house, also.

"Hey," Haley said coming up from behind him. He looked over his shoulder and gave her a smile before looking back at the house "They'll be fine, Luke."

"I really don't want to go, Hales." he said, putting his hands on his hips and giving her a look.

"I know." she said softly, giving him a half smile "But the faster you get out of here that faster you'll get home."

"Uke." Liz giggled, reaching for him.

"She said Peyton first." Haley immediately said as her eyes went wide.

A smile crossed his face and he place a soft kiss on the side of his niece's head before opening the door to the cab, saying "Take care of them."

Nodding her head, Haley gave him a smile, saying "You know it. Now, go."

He nodded, looking at the house one last time before getting into the cab, shutting the door behind him. She watched until the car disappeared before walking into the house. Jamie was already playing the video game and Sawyer was sitting next to Nathan on the couch. She looked up hopeful, when she heard the door open, only to look down at her hands when she saw it was just her aunt.

Haley sat Liz down on the ground and she immediately walked towards Sawyer, putting her hands up, indicating she wanted up. Nathan and Haley smile as Sawyer picked up her cousin, sitting her next to her on the couch before looking at each other and Nathan mouth _the back porch,_ telling Haley where Peyton had gone. She nodded, giving Sawyer one last look before walking towards the back porch.

"Okay, you said when you left her downstairs yesterday, she was fine." Peyton immediately said when the back door opened.

Haley looked at her and the guilt rushing over her, once again. She was the one that left Sawyer alone. She knew Peyton didn't mean it to sound accusing. Haley apologized a million times this morning, when Luke called but, they both reassured her that they didn't blame her. Hell, they've both done the same thing on more then one occasion. That's why Sawyer was so comfortable down there by herself.

"She was, Peyton, " she said, shaking her head "She was smiling and drawling on the napkin when I left her."

"Okay, and she was down there for like ten minutes, at the most, by herself."

"Yeah. It couldn't of been to much longer then that."

"So, in that ten minutes, something happen. I mean, what could happen in ten minutes?" Peyton said before looking over at Haley as her face paled sighty "God Haley, so much can happen in ten minutes."

"No, Peyton." Haley said taking seat next to her, grabbing her by the shoulders, making her look at her "Don't you dare go down that road. From what it sound's like, someone just fill her head with a bunch of lies, nothing else."

"You're right." Peyton said, giving her a smile "Are you sure you didn't see anyone down there?"

"I didn't see anyone, Peyton. I mean, once she looked up and I saw the tears, my attention was solely on her but, when I walked down the stairs, I didn't see anyone."

"Okay," Peyton said, standing up "We'll start there."

"Wait a minute." Haley said, standing up, rubbing her hand across her forehead before looking over at Peyton "What do you mean, we'll start there?"

"She asked about Luke's heart, Haley. And she never does that. Never."

"Okay, Peyton but, anyone who's read Luke's book, knows about his heart."

"I know, I know." she said, letting out a deep breath "But then she went on to say that she'd be a good girl if he didn't leave. Someone said something to her and whoever it was, would have had to of been at TRCI when she was alone, downstairs. So, that's where we're going to start."

Haley nodded her head, following Peyton into the house, saying "Alright."

As Peyton walked past the living room, she called out to Sawyer and they disappeared up the stairs. Haley sat down next to Nathan and explained what was going on. A short time later, Peyton and Sawyer appeared back in the living room, in a change of clothes.

"Ready?" Peyton asked, looking over at Haley, who stood up an nodded her head.

Sawyer looked up at her mom, asking "Where are you going?"

"We have to go to TRIC, Baby."

"I don't want to go." Sawyer immediately said "Please Momma, let's not go there."

Peyton was biting her bottom lip, when Nathan stood up, saying "Sawyer, why don't you come with me for a little while."

Sawyer looked between her mom and her uncle. She really didn't want to leave her mom but she didn't want to go to TRIC more. So, she nodded her head and Peyton leaned down, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head as Nathan said good-bye to Haley and Liz.

"Come on, Jamie." he called over his shoulder as he scooped Sawyer up in his arms.

Once they were out of the house, Peyton turned to look at Haley, tears in her eyes and said "Something definitely happen yesterday. I mean, she's scared to death to go back."

Rubbing her hand up and down her back, Haley said "Well then, let's go find out."

_***One Tree Hill***_

Nathan dribbled the ball before taking a shot. The chains rustled, telling him it had gone in as he looked over at the picnic table to see Sawyer sitting in the same position she'd been sitting in since they got there. He dropped Jamie off at Andre, which was already planned and the two boy's asked Sawyer if she wanted to stay and play but, she just shook her head no, saying she wanted to stay with Nathan. So, he brought her to the one place he knew calm Luke down, hoping it would have the same effect on her. But, so far, it didn't seem to.

"Hey," he said, sitting down next to her. Sawyer looked up and gave him a small smile before looking back down at the ground. "So, you want to tell me what's on your mind, kid?"

Once again, Sawyer looked up at him. She wanted to tell him but, the man's words from yesterday, kept spinning around in her head. So, she shrugged her shoulders, looking back to the ground and mumble "I can't. He'll get mad."

Nathan didn't miss that she said _he'll, _indicating, whatever happen yesterday, involved a guy and that simple fact right there, made his blood boil. He picked her up, placing her in his lap, putting a finger under her chin, making her look him in the eye before he asked "Who, Sawyer?"

Sawyer looked down at her hands, like she had said to much and he let out a sigh before saying "Nobody's going to get mad at you, Sawyer. And I can guarantee, if you just tell someone whatever it is that you're keeping inside that's making you feel so bad, you'll feel better."

She looked at him, her blue eyes wide and he thought he was getting somewhere until she looked down, saying "I just want Daddy to come home."

"Alright," he said after a couple of seconds "I think I can do something that will help make you feel better."

Sawyer looked up at him with curios eyes as he sat her down on the top of the table before pulling his phone from his pocket. Looking down at his watch, he quickly added the hours and hoped Luke's plane had landed by now. Hitting send on his phone, he put it up to his ear and walked a couple of steps away from the table and waited.

"What's up Nate?" Luke's worried voice came over the phone "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine." he said looking over his shoulder at Sawyer "Listen, after you're done talking to her, I gotta tell you something."

"What's going on, Nate?"

"Talk to Sawyer first." Nathan said, walking back towards her, handing the phone to her.

"Daddy?"

Luke closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall. He could easily tell she had tears in her eyes and what Nathan just said, had his heart pounding in his chest but right now, he had to act like everything was okay. For Sawyer.

Clearing his throat, he said "Hey, Baby girl. What are you and Nathan doing?"

"We're at the river court." she said

"Oh yeah," he laughed "You showing your Uncle a move or two?"

She didn't giggle like normal. Instead, a frown appeared on her face and she said "Come home, Daddy."

"I am, Sawyer. I promise, I'll be home by tonight."

"Before I go to bed?" she hopefully asked.

One the other end of the phone, Luke was biting his lip. His plane was supposed to take off after seven and he knew there was a slim chance he'd actually make it home before she went to bed.

"I'm going to try, baby. But if I'm not, I promise I'll be there in the morning when you wake up, alright?"

"Okay, Daddy." she said softly. Little did her Dad know, now she planed on not going to bed until he was home "I love you ,Daddy."

"I love you too, Baby girl."

"Luke, we're ready for you." a man's voice could be heard in the back ground. Luke look up and nodded, holding up one finger, indicating he needed a minute.

"Listen, Sawyer. I have to go but, I'll see you later tonight. Okay?"

"Okay." she said as a frown reappeared on her face.

"Hand the phone to Uncle Nathan, baby. I'll see you later."

"Bye, Daddy." she softly said before handing the phone to Nathan.

"Hey man, I know this is probably the last thing you need to hear right now," he paused as he walked a couple of feet away from Sawyer before continuing "I asked Sawyer to tell me what was on her mind and she said she couldn't because he'll get mad."

_"He'll."_ Luke repeated.

"Yeah, I know, man. I tried to asks her who he was but, she just said she wanted you to come home. So, I called."

As a parent, there are a million and one worries that run through your head everyday about your child. And just as many horror stories everyday on the tv telling you thatttell you those worries can happen. And at some point in those stories, a child whispers a phrase such as _he'll get mad_. It makes your heart stop and at that moment, a million and one scenario were running wild in Luke's head.

"Luke…" the man said, appearing in the hallway again

"I'm coming," Luke said as he stood up. The man disappeared into the room and he said "Listen I got to go. But um…Could you not tell Peyt about this."

"Luke, come on, she deserves to know what's going on." Nathan pointed out.

"I know, I know and I agree but, right now, she's already stressed enough and it would just be better if I was there when she found out. I want to be there to tell her."

Nathan let out a deep breath, saying "Fine, but you tell her as soon as you can, Luke. I'm not joking."

"I will." Luke said as he picked up his bag "I'll talk to you later… Hey Nate…"

"Yeah."

"Take Sawyer out for some ice cream. I'll pay you back whe-"

"I think I can cover some ice cream for my niece, Luke."

"Alright," he laughed "bye."

Luke wait for Nathan to hang up before shoving his phone back into his pocket. He shook his head to try and clear his thoughts but knew it was no good. No matter what he did, his head and his heart were miles away in a completely different state. So, he walked into the room and took a seat in the only empty chair. He had no idea what was being talked about but, he would nod his head every time someone sent him a look or he would look down at the paper in front of him but, he didn't comprehend a word.

"Since it's been nearly five years since some very unprofessional action…"

That statement caught his attention and he looked up at the man talk. It was the boss, of the boss, of his editor speaking and Luke knew very well what he was referring to.

"We assume you and Miss. Strauss would be able to work together, professionally, now?"

It took him a few seconds to realize that it was meant as a question and during the few seconds his eyes land on Lindsey, sitting a couple of seat to his left, staring at his hand. More like his wedding ring.

Spinning the ring in a circle around his finger, a habit he had picked up over the years, he looked up and nodded his head, saying "Of, course."

"Good," the man said with a smile "Now that, that's settled, we can take a quick lunch before meeting again to discus your book tour."

"If you don't mind," Luke said, before anyone had a chance to get up from their chairs "I was wondering if there was any way we could continue, now. You know my situation."

The man looked around and everyone nodded their head so, he slid a piece of paper across the table, towards Luke, saying "There are the tour dates." he looked over at Lindsey, saying "I trust you have familiarized yourself with this book and know how to correctly market it this time?" She nodded her head before he continued "Like I said before, the failure of your last book tour was mostly our fault and I guarantee this one wil-"

Lucas let out a little laugh before holding up his hand, saying "Is this all were going to discus is tour dates?"

"Well, yes."

Luke looked around the room before saying "I got to go."

"Luke…" Lindsay said

"Look," he said looking at the man "You know, I have something going at home right now."

"Yes, that why you wanted to push the two meeting into one day." the man said.

"Yeah, and that phone call I was on before I came in here, was about what's going on at home right now. So, if all we're going to talk about is tour dates, I'm going to go. I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you if these day's are good for me right now, anyway. Once I'm home, I'll e-mail you," he said sending a quick glance at Lindsey "if there's a problem."

When the man nodded his head, she said "Okay."

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Momma's going to be mad at you." Sawyer stated before taking another lick of her ice cream.

"Oh, yeah." Nathan laughed, lightly "Why's that?"

"Because you gave me ice cream before dinner." she said, giving him a serious look.

A smirk crossed his face, it was nice to see any other emotion out of her other then sadness and he'd take it. Even if that met getting slap upside the head by Peyton. Besides, he would have Luke on his side.

Leaning over, he whispered "We'll just have to keep it a secret."

Nathan swore Sawyer paled slightly and her eyes went wide. Holding her cone out to him, she said "I don't like secrets."

"Okay." he quickly said "Then it won't be a secret. It really wasn't one in the first place because your Dad told me to get you some."

"Really?" she question, her eyes lighten up a little and a small smile tugged on her lips.

"Yeah, he knew you were pretty down and thought it might make you feel better." he said and her smile grew a little more as she pulled the cone closer to her "And I'll tell your Mom when I see her."

Jackpot. Sawyer took another lick of her ice cream before giving him a smile, saying "Thanks Uncle Nate."

"No problem, kid." he laughed, ruffling her hair.

"Well, if it isn't little Brooke and…Nate." Brooke said as she took a seat at the table.

"That's all you could come up with? Nate?" Nathan laughed

"Yeah, giving me a minute." Brooke said, looking down at Sawyer, noticing the glare for the first time "Whoa, what's wrong with you?"

"My names Sawyer." she mumbled, looking down at her ice cream cone.

Brooke made a face and looked over at Nathan. One look at his face told her this was much more then Sawyer being in a bad mood.

"Okay, Sawyer." Brooke said softly, cupping Sawyer's face with one hand, rubbing her thumb back in forth, asking "What's wrong, Honey?"

"I want Daddy to come home." Sawyer said, getting teary eyed.

"Where's Luke?" Brooke asked, looking up at Nathan, confused.

"Hey Sawyer," Nathan said "Why don't you go throw these away." he finished, handing her some napkin's before pointing at a trash can a couple of feet away.

He waited until Sawyer was out of ear shot before leaning over, saying "Luke's in New York."

Brooke nodded her head, saying "Is that why-'

"No," he said looking over at her "Haven't you talked to Haley or Peyton?"

"No. Why?" She asked, becoming alarmed "What's going on, Nate?"

"Yesterday, Haley, Peyton and the two girls were at TRIC and Haley took Sawyer downstairs to get her something to eat. She put her order in and then Peyton apparently call her upstairs because Peyton swears that Liz can say her name and I guess that's important because Haley owes it to her to have Liz say her name first because Sawyer did….I don't know. Anyway, Sawyer was downstairs for about ten minutes, by herself and in that ten minutes, something happen, scaring the shit out of Sawyer. She started crying and she didn't want anyone other then Luke. You should have seen her this morning when he had to leave. She was clinging to him for dear life."

"Oh, Liz is so going to say my name first. Those sneaky, little…" she paused when she saw the look Nathan was giving her and smiled "Right, not important. So, is that all anyone knows?"

"I guess, when Peyton and Sawyer got home, Sawyer clanged to Luke from the minute she saw him until she fell asleep on his shoulder. Haley said that Peyton said, Sawyer was asking question's about Luke's heart and then said she'd be a good girl if he didn't leave. Their convinced something happened when Sawyer was downstairs by herself."

"Now it makes sense, that's what Luke always says when I call her Little Brooke." Brooke said snapping her fingers, laughing until she saw the look Nathan was giving her, again. Sending him another smile, she asked "Do they have any idea who would do that?"

Nathan broke eye contact and looked over to see Sawyer walking towards them.

"Tell me what's else is going on." Brooke said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Look, you can't tell Peyton because Luke wants to tell her."

"Nathan, I don't know…"

"I know, I'm right there with you but, as a father, I would want to be the one to tell Haley something like this."

"Alright."

"Earlier, we were at the river court and I was trying to get her to talk about whatever it is that's bothering her and she said she couldn't tell me because he'd get mad."

"He? Who's he?"

"I don't know. I asked and she looked scared before saying she wanted Luke to come home. I called Luke so Sawyer could talk to him and told him then. But, just now, before you walked up, She was telling me Peyton was going to be mad because I gave her ice cream and I told her we could keep a secret and she freaked. She tried giving the cone back, saying she didn't like secrets."

Tears welled up in her eyes that she quickly blinked away because Sawyer reached the table.

"We gotta get going, Sawyer. I have to pick up Jamie." Nathan said, standing up.

"Why don't I do that," Brooke suddenly said, looking over at Nathan "I'll pick him up and take them to the park for a while. Why don't you go see how their doing at TRIC."

"What do you think, Sawyer? You want to hang out with Aunt Brooke for a little while?" he asked, looking down at her and she nodded. He went to give her a hug when he saw her ice cream covered hands. Laughing, he held her wrists away from him, placing a kiss on the top of her head, saying "I'll see you later, kid."

"Bye, Uncle Nathan."

He turned to walk away but stopped and pulled his key's out of his pocket, tossing them on the table, saying "I don't really feel like putting her seat in your car."

Brooke laughed as she pulled her car key's and handed them to him, saying "I walked here. My car's parked outside my store."

"Of course, it is." he said as he grabbed the key's from her before walking away.

Brooke looked down at Sawyer, saying "Let's get you cleaned up before we go get Jamie….Wait, Jamie" she paused and looked around but couldn't find Nathan anywhere. Looking back down at Sawyer, she asked "You wouldn't happen to know where Jamie is, would you?"

"Andre's."

Brooke smile and raised her hand, saying "High five. Sawyer saves the day."

As soon as her hand made contact, the sticky slim transferred to Brooke's hand and she made a face as she open and closed her fist causing Sawyer to giggle a little. Taking her to the nearest rest room, they got cleaned up and walked to the car. The car ride was silent all the way to Andre's and even then, the only words mutter was asking Andre if he wanted to come. Once they reached the park, the boys took off running towards the play ground as Brooke unbuckled Sawyer and grabbed her hand before she had a chance to run off.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked, looking down at her.

Sawyer nodded her head and they walked towards a bench and sat down. Brooke pulling her onto her lap, brushing her hair away from her face, before softly saying "You know, I had a secret once."

Brooke watched Sawyer immediately tense up and knew what Nathan meant.

Sawyer looked down at her hands, whispering "Did you tell anyone?"

"Not right away." she answered, honestly "No, I take that back. I told one person. But after a while, this secret made me feel really bad and I told everyone else."

So, it was a little lie. The only reason she told anyone else besides Deb was because Peyton saw her mirror but Sawyer didn't need to know that. All Sawyer needed to hear was that she told them, period.

Sawyer looked over at her, asking "What's your secret?"

That was one question Brooke hadn't anticipated. "Well, a man broke into my store one night."

"Did he hurt you?" Sawyer asked

Brooke gave her a smile, biting the inside of her cheek, blinking the tears away, as she tucked a piece of hair behind Sawyer ear, saying "Yeah kid, he did. But, I felt a lot better once I told everyone. Especially your Mom."

Sawyer gave her a small smile, saying "Aunt Brooke?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"Can I go play, now?"

Letting out a little laugh, she said "Yeah, you can go play."

Sawyer wrapped her arms around her neck, whispering "Thanks, Aunt Brooke."

"Anytime Sawyer." She said when she pulled away, giving her a smile.

Sawyer jumped off her lap and ran towards the swing's and sat down, away from the other kids, looking down like she was thinking. Brooke frown and she had to dab the corner of her eye as she took a deep breath, scanning the play ground for Jamie and Andre, finding them sitting on top of the jungle gym, watching Sawyer.

"Something wrong." Jamie said, send a quick look at his friend before looking back at Sawyer.

Andre looked to see what he was looking at and saw Sawyer, saying "I thought you said she was sad because your Uncle Luke had to go to New York."

"That's what my mom told me." Jamie pointed out "But the adults were all worried this morning and Sawyer didn't want to go to TRIC today."

"What do you think it is?"

Jamie shrugged his shoulders as he looked over at her again, saying "She looks scared."

"Come on, then." Andre said as he started to climb down "Let's go find out."

Jamie followed him and soon they were standing in front of her. She never once looked up, only kicked her feet in the dirt. Andre and Jamie shared a look before he walked up beside Sawyer, asking "You want me to push you?"

"No."

"You want me to teach you how to swing?"

Once again, Sawyer said "No."

"What's wrong, Sawyer?" Jamie asked, sitting on the ground in front of her so they were looking each other in the eye "Why didn't you want to go to TRIC with Aunt Peyton today? You love going to TRIC."

Sawyer whispered "He said it was a secret."

"Well, I can keep a secret." Jamie said, looking over at Andre.

"Yeah, I can too." he said, taking the hint "You can tell us."

Sawyer looked like she wanted to tell them but hesitated and looked back down at the ground.

"Who's he, Sawyer?" Jamie asked

Looking at her cousin, Sawyer said "The dark hair man at TRIC…"

_***One Tree Hill***_

"What exactly are we going to do once we get to TRIC?" Haley asked

Peyton took her eyes off the road momentarily to glare at Haley. It had been three in a half hours since they left the house. Haley had claimed she needed to make a few stops and Peyton played her little game, thinking she could use some time to calm down before going to TRIC. But her patience went out the window about two hous ago and she told Haley the next time she asked her to pull over, they better be at TRIC.

"I'm not sure yet. Start questioning the first person I see."

"Peyton, you can't just walk in and start interrogating the staff." Haley said, giving her a look "I mean, what if that person, didn't even work yesterday?"

"Well then, I guess that will be my first question, won't it?" Peyton said

Haley glared at her before looking back out the window, asking "Do you think you know who did it?"

"Oh, I have a few people in mind."

"Sadie didn't work yesterday. I know that for a fact."

"Well, that only eliminates one." Peyton pointed out as she parked the car.

"Peyton…wait." Haley called out as she reached in the backseat to get Liz out of her car seat, something Nathan remembered to switch before he left but, it was obvious her pleas fell on deaf ear's when she looked up to see Peyton half way up the stairs.

"Come on, Liz." she said place on kiss on the top of her head as she started to walk up the stairs "We have to stop Aunt On from going Momma Bear on someone."

"What the hell did you do to Sawyer?" Peyton exclaimed, walking into TRIC, spotting Justin behind the bar.

"What?" he said, looking up confused.

"Peyton!" Haley exclaimed, walking in behind her.

Peyton closed her eyes and rubbed a hand across her forehead, putting the other on her hip as she let out a deep breath. Okay, so that wasn't the first question she was supposed to asked but he was number two on her list.

"Did you work yesterday?" she finally asked

"No." he said, shaking his head slowly, not missing the _'I told you so' _look Haley was giving Peyton "What happen to Sawyer?"

Peyton head shot up and she sent him a glare, saying "How'd you know something happen to Sawyer?"

"Because you just burst through the door asking what the hell I did to her. So, I'm guessing something happen, yesterday."

"We're not sure." Haley answered before Peyton had a chance to say anything, rubbing her hand up and down her arm, trying to get her to calm down "She was so here eating by herself and all of suddn-"

"Someone scared the shit out of her, okay?" Peyton said cutting her off "Someone, that works here, in no more then ten minutes, scare my little girl so much, she woke up in the middle of the night screaming for Luke."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Haley asked, when Peyton paused to take a deep breath, blinking her eyes a couple of times.

"My mind's all over the place, right now, Hales." Peyton explained, giving her a smile "But you should have heard her. It was a bone chilling scream and…"

"I'll question the staff that worked yesterday, see if I can find out anything." Justin suddenly said, feeling like he was invading on a private moment.

"Thanks Justin." Haley said softly before looking over at Peyton "Come on, let's go upstairs."

Peyton nodded before turning and walking towards the stairs, Haley hot on her trial. They stood in their office for a couple of minutes in silence. Peyton staring out a window you really couldn't see out of, rubbing her hand's up and down her arms and Haley stood by the side of the pool table, just watching her.

"I'm sorry about that downstairs-"

"Don't worry about." Haley immediately said, walking around the pool table, sitting Liz down on the table and pulling herself up to sit on the top of it, asking "What happened last night?"

Letting out a deep breath, she wiped the corner of her eyes before turning around to look at Haley, saying " I really don't know. She had a bad dream, that much we could tell but, she wouldn't say anything else. But the thing was, she didn't…she didn't want me, Hales. She wanted Luke. Even after I was in the room, she screamed for him. What am I suppose to do if that happens tonight?"

Haley just stared at her friend, not knowing what to say as her heart broke at the tears falling down Peyton face.

"Well, he'll be home tonight so everything's going to be alright." she said trying to reassure her friend.

"I know, I know." Peyton said, walking towards the pool table, resting her hands on the edge, looking over at Haley "But what if he doesn't make it home tonight?"

"He will." Haley said

Peyton gave her a smile as Nathan walked into the office. She looked around for Sawyer before looking at him, alarmed.

"Where's my kid?"

"We ran into Brooke and she wanted to pick up Jamie and take them to the park."

"Brooke." Peyton repeated, wide eyed "I haven't called Brooke. She is going to be so pissed."

"She was a little more pissed about the fact that you were trying to get Liz to say you're name first." he said, pointing at his daughter.

Haley gave her husband a look and he shrugged his shoulders as Peyton reached for her phone when it rang.

"Hey, it's Peyton." she said into the phone, sending Nathan a look before walking further into the office.

"Hey Beautiful."

"Luke." she said stopping in her tracks "Are you on break?"

"Actually, "Luke said "I was wondering if you would be able to get to the airport in the next couple of hours?"

"What? Why? Luke, what happened?"

"Nothing, everything's fine. It's just, I would really love to ride back to Tree Hill with my wife and daughter instead of alone, in a cab."

"You're coming home?"

"I'm about to board the plan right now." he said, laughing lightly "Think you can make it?"

"We'll be there."

"Alright, I'll see you then."

"Bye." she said before hanging up the phone, looking over at Nathan, saying "Brooke took them to the park?"

"Yeah."

"I needed Sawyer's seat out of your car." Peyton said as she walked towards the door, Haley close behind her.

"Brooke has my car." Nathan pointed out as he picked Liz up off the table before following them.

"The staffs on their way in." Justin called out as they came down the stairs.

"That's great." Peyton said, walking towards the door "Call me if you find anything out."

"Wait." he called out, stopping her at the door as Nathan walked out. Peyton stopped and gave him a look as he said "I don't know your number."

"Well then, call Haley and she'll tell me. You have her number, right?"

Justin barely had time to nodded his head before she turned and walked out the door. Haley sent him an apologetic smile before following after her. About twenty-minutes later Peyton pulled into a parking space and hopped out of the car, making her way towards the bench Brooke sat on. Haley got Liz out of the back seat as Nathan parked Brooke's car next to his and once again, switched the seat.

"Hey," Peyton called out "Where's Sawyer?"

"How could you not call and tell me what was going on?" Brooke immediately questioned as she stood up.

"I forgot. With everything else that was going on…" she trailed off once she spotted Sawyer and walked away without saying another word.

"Momma!" Sawyer exclaimed, once she looked up and saw Peyton, jumping into her arms.

"That," Haley said walking up beside Brooke, giving her a smile, pointing over at Peyton "was exactly what she needed right now."

Brooke gave her a smile before swatting her arm "Why am I the last to find out about this?"

"Ouch." Haley said, giving Brooke a look "Technically, I don't think you're the last. Since you just found out, I'm assuming Julian doesn't know and I'm sure Skills, Mouth and Millie don't-"

"Out of us, Haley." Brooke exclaimed, cutting her off "Out of us five, why am I the last to find out, I should have been the second."

"Since Sawyer is Luke's kid, I would have to say-"

"I should have found out before Nathan!" Brooke said, glaring at her.

"Okay, Brooke." Haley laughed lightly "Next time something happens I'll make sure you're the first person I call."

"Thank you." Brooke said, nodding her head as Peyton started walking towards them "That's all I ask."

Giving Brooke a smile, Peyton said "I'll call you later to night." Brooke nodded and she turned to Haley, saying "Call and let me know what Ju-"

"I will, I will." Haley smiled, giving her a little push "Get out of here."

Peyton smile before saying bye. They called out bye to Sawyer and she gave them a small wave over her Mom's shoulder. Liz reached for Nathan, once he stood beside them and once she was comfortable in his arms, she pointed at the park, saying "Slide"

Nathan let out a little laugh as he walked towards the slide, Jamie and Andre running towards him once they saw him. Haley and Brooke watched with smiles on their faces as Jamie walked up the slide behind his little sister, Nathan was standing on the side with Andre standing at the bottom.

"Since their occupied for a minute." Brooke said, pulling Haley towards the bench "You have time to tell me what's really going on because Nathan is so not the person you want to get information from."

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Momma, " Sawyer asked as she played with the necklace that hung around Peyton neck "Why are we here?"

"I told you," Peyton said with a smile, kissing the tip of Sawyer nose before saying "It's surprise."

Sawyer squinted her eyes at her and Peyton did it back causing her to smile before wrapping her arms around her neck, saying "I love you, Momma."

"I love you too, Baby." Peyton said, closing her eyes, smoothing the back of Sawyer hair. When she open them, they land on the one person, she knew, could make everything better. The one person, she's been praying for all day.

Luke walked off the plan and quickly zigzagged through the crowd airport, making his way towards the exit, hoping that's where they would be. They kinda forgot to plan that little detail before they hung up the phone earlier. He stopped and stood on his toes, looking over the crowd when he spotted them.

Taking a couple of steps towards them, he watched as Peyton kissed the tip of Sawyer's nose before Sawyer gave her a look. Obviously, she didn't like the answer Peyton had given her and when Sawyer wrapped her arms around her neck, Luke saw just how worried Peyton really was, letting her guard down for that split second when Sawyer couldn't see. And then they locked eyes and he could tell, she was just as relieved to have him home as he was to be there.

As Peyton started saying something, Sawyer pulled away and looked at her mom until she pointed. Sawyer turned her head and a smile crossed her face insistently. Wiggling out of her mom grasp, she started running towards Luke, squealing "Daddy!"

Kneeling down, he caught her in his arms, holding her close to him as Peyton started to walk towards them, wanting to give them a minute.

"You're home, Daddy." she whispered against his neck.

"Of course, I'm home." he said, standing up with her in his arms "I told you I was coming home."

She pulled back enough to look at him as she placed her hand over his heart, asking "Is your heart good?"

It felt like his heart shattered when he saw the look on Sawyer's face. It was the entire reason he never told her how serious his heart condition really was. It was the same look everyone always gave him when they were worried about his heart. Whether they said something or not, he could always recognize that look and he never wanted to see it on his daughters face.

Hooking her chin with one of his fingers, making her look at him, he said "I'm hearts fine, Sawyer and I promise you, I'm not going to leave you."

The relief that filled her eyes, told him that was the one thing she needed to hear. Sawyer gave him a kiss on the cheek before wrapping her arms around his neck again. He reached out and cupped the side of Peyton's face, once she was close enough, rubbing his thumb gently a crossed it.

"I missed you, Peyton Scott."

The first real smile, he'd seen in the last twenty-four hours, crossed her face as she said "I missed you to, Luke."

He gave her a slightly smirk before crashing his lips to hers. A soft groan escaped when she took his bottom lips in between hers and he tangled his hand in the hair on the back of her head, pulling her closer.

"Daddy," Sawyer suddenly said, causing them to break apart and look at her, seeing a sly smile planted on her face "I'm hungry."

Luke raised an eyebrow, saying "You are, are you?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding her head "Can we get McDonald's?"

Peyton laughed a little causing Luke to look at her. Give him a smile, she said "She saw one across from the airport with a kick ass playground and has been asking to go ever since."

He hung his arm around Peyton shoulder, guiding her out of the airport, saying "I guess."

"Thanks Daddy." Sawyer exclaimed

"It's probably a good thing." Peyton said "I really don't know if Nathan fed her today."

"Uncle Nathan gave me ice cream." she chirped, shrugging her shoulders like it was no big deal "He said Daddy told him to."

"Lucas Scott." Peyton exclaimed

Luke let out a laugh before kissing the side of Peyton head, saying "It's good to be home."

_***One Tree Hill***_

Haley walked down the hallway, heading towards Jamie's room to say good-night. Once she reached his room, she was surprised to see him sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at a picture in his hands.

"What's going on Jamie?" she asked walking into the room.

He looked up and smiled, saying "Nothing" as he shook his head, setting the picture on the table beside the bed before climbing under the covers.

Raising an eyebrow, she walked towards the bed, stealing a quick glance at the picture, asking "Are you sure?"

He looked like he thought about for a second before giving her a smile, saying "Yeah."

"Alright," she said, looking at him suspiciously "But if you want to talk about anything, I'm right here."

"I know, Mom."

"Of course you do." she said tickling his sides "I love you, Jamie."

"Love you, too." he said before rolling over on his side, closing his eyes.

Haley stood up straight and watched him for a couple of seconds before glancing at the picture of him, Luke and Sawyer. Letting out a soft sigh, she flicked the light off before reaching for the door knob.

"Momma…" Jamie suddenly call out.

This immediately alerted Haley. She hadn't heard Jamie call her Momma since he was seven. Not unless he wasn't feeling good or if something was bothering him.

"What is it, Jamie?" she asked, sitting down on the side of the bed, rubbing a hand through his short hair.

"It's about Sawyer…"


	10. Late night phone calls

Just a little warning, this story is un-beta so all mistakes are mine, sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill….someone else does.

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews: Leytonloveforever, grayfan, Juzzy88, OTHGirl24, LPfan4ever, fantasy27, cayt326, AnnOTH21, crazyjan, HJS-NS-23, RJMoonspell4, missshay16, mkrunner and dancingfool987 They really do mean a lot to me.

* * *

_**Going home, again**_

_**Late night phone calls…**_

He pounded on the motel room door before looking over his shoulder, saying "Come on, open up."

After a couple seconds, he heard the chain being pulled off the door and it open just a enough for him to fit through and he walked into the room. The door shut behind him and he turned to face the person behind the door.

"Got my money?"

"Get the information I asked you for?" she said, walking towards the table in between the bed, pulling open the drawer, gabbing the envelope that sat inside.

When she turned around, the guy was holding out a picture. Taking it from him, a smile crossed her face as she ran her fingertips along the side.

"One thing's for sure," she said looking up at the man "The Scott boy's sure do make some good looking kids."

"Yeah, whatever." he said with a shrug of his shoulders, eyeing the enveloped she had in her hand "Is that my money?"

"Hold on." she said, sending him a glare when he reached for it "You don't get this until you give me my information."

He raised an eyebrow, saying "What information? You asked me to get you a picture of the three of them and scare Luke's kid. I did that, now pay up."

She looked at him shocked for a minute before say "I told you to get a picture of the three of them and to find out if Sawyer was scared of Dan, not to scare her."

He let out a nervous laugh as he sat down on the bed, refusing to meet her eye.

"What did you do?"

"I must of mixed up what we talked about."

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice slightly raising

He ran his hands through his hair, saying "I thought you said scare Sawyer."

A look between irate, confusion and irritable come over the red heads face as she exclaimed "You what?"

"I may have scared the little girl."

By now, the she was pacing back in forth in front of the bed, shoot daggers at him with her eyes, asking "What did you say? I mean, how bad did you scare her?"

"I kinda told her Luke's heart wasn't doing to good and that he could die."

She stopped and stared at him for a minute before jumping at him, he hands reached out for his neck. He quickly jumped out of the way and scrabbling across the bed, out of arms reach.

"Why in the hell would you tell her that?"

"Well, I thought you said-"

"It doesn't matter what you thought I said. How could you tell a four year old little girl that her dad was going to die."

He looked at her confused for a minute and she just let out a groan as she started walking back in forth again, rubbing her forehead.

"Okay," she said, nodding her head, looking over at him "We can fix this. Spin it some how to make Dan look like the good guy. After all, that's what he's good at, looking like the good guy. As long as you didn't do anything el…" she trailed off when she saw the look he was giving her and rolled her eyes "What else did you do?"

"I may have told her they thought she was a bad girl and to keep it a secret. I mean you know how kids are, scare them enough and tell them to keep a secret, 9 chances out of 10, they'll keep it a secret."

"You're an idiot." she said before she started to pace again "Okay, maybe she won't tell anyone. Like you said she's a kid and don't they say kids have the best judgment when it come it people? And Scott kids are smart. At least that's what I'm told. So, she probably picked up on the fact that, you're an idiot and maybe you didn't scare her at all…"

"Um…" he said when she trailed off, seeing the look on his face.

"How much more is there?" she exclaimed as she narrowed her eyes

"This is it." he said, holding up his hands "They definitely know something scared her. Justin already called a meeting, asking who worked yesterday and if any of us talked to Sawyer."

She let out a sarcastic laugh as she shoved the envelope into her purse before picking up her bag, walking towards the door.

"Hold on." he said, blocking her path, eyeing her purse "I didn't tell them anything and it's obvious that she didn't either. So, I'll just lay low for a couple of day's until this blows over and then try again. Now, just so I don't get it wrong this time, you want to know what she think's of Dan?"

Shaking her head, she looked at him like he'd lost his mind "You really don't get it, do you? Have you even met Nathan and Lucas Scott? Because if you have, then you know, they'll stop at nothing to find out what's wrong with that little girl. And getting called into a staff meeting within twenty-four hours of _your _screw up, should tell you that. I mean, they already know it was someone at TRIC. It's only a matter of time before it comes back to you."

"I already told Justin I didn't talk to her, so we're good. I mean, Lucas and Peyton weren't even at the meeting. They can't be to concerned."

"God, you really are stupid, aren't you?" she said, rolling her eyes "How do you think Justin found out? I guarantee one of them talk to him and they probably weren't there for the meeting because they were with their daughter, trying to figure out what's wrong with her."

He took a seat in the closest chair as he realized what she said was probably true.

Letting out a little laugh as she reached the for the door knob, saying "Good luck. You're going to need it once Luke get's a hold of you."

"Wait a minute." he suddenly said "This was all your idea. You can't leave me to take the fall."

"Oh honey, My idea was to talk to Sawyer. See what she's been told about Grandpa Dan. See how she feels about him. Not to scare her. I don't know where you came up with that. But, if you even try to blame any of this on me, well let's just say there's an entire plane full of people right now that will tell you I wasn't anywhere around here. If you've learned anything about me in the past two weeks it should've been that I always make sure my hands are clean."

And with that, the red head exited the room, leaving a stunned looking man behind as realization washed over him. At the moment in time, he knew making a deal with a women, he barely knew, after a night of drinking and crazy sex, probably wasn't the smartest choice he's ever made.

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Thanks Justin." Nathan said into the phone as Haley walked around the corner "Yeah, I'll make sure she knows."

He sent a quick look at Haley as he set the phone down, saying "That was Justin. He said no one admitted to talking to Sawyer."

When she didn't replay he looked up and a look over concern washed over his face. Walking towards his wife, he said "What's wrong Haley?"

"Sawyer talked to Jamie."

"Okay," he said rubbing his hands up and down her bare arms "That's a good thing, right? I mean, at least she's talking to someone."

"Of course, it's a good thing." she said looking up at him "It's just what she said has me worried."

"Well, what'd she say?" he finally asked when she didn't explain any further.

"Jamie said the dark haired man at TRIC told her to keep it a secret."

Nathan face paled slightly. It wasn't because of what she just said. No, he had put that much together just from what Sawyer had said to him but, there's a differences between thinking that's what someone said and having it be confirmed. And the more he found out about yesterday, the sicker he got to his stomach.

"What's wrong, baby?" Haley asked when she saw his face.

"Did she say anything else?"

Haley shook her head, saying "No, Jamie said Peyton walked up before they could get anything else out of her but, he said she looked really scared. Like she wanted to tell him…"

"But was afraid of what was going to happen if she did?" he finished for her.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"That's the same look she was giving me all day."

Haley studied her husband for a minute before asking "What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing." he said giving her a face as he tried to brush her comment off.

"You are so lying." she exclaimed point a finger at him "Nathan Scott you better tell me what's going on or so help me god…"

"Sawyer told me he'll get mad, earlier when I asked what was on her mind and later, she told me she didn't like secrets."

"Why didn't you say something to Peyton?" Haley exclaimed as she reached for the phone "You can't keep something like that from her."

"I know, I know." he said taking the phone out of her hands "But when I told Luke, he asked me not to say anything. He said he'd tell her when he got home."

"And you believed him?" she exclaimed, reaching for the phone that he held out of reach "You know as well as I do that Luke like's to keep things to himself until he thinks everything is fixed. I can't believe you didn't tell her."

"Haley." he said setting the phone down on the counter before making her look at him "Trust me, I wanted to tell her and I told Luke he had to tell her as soon as he could, but I can understand where's he's coming from. If this was us, I would want to be the one to tell you or at least be there when you found out. Not in a different state."

He expected her to yell at him some more or make that face that has him trying to hold back a smile because he can't help but find her incredibly sexy in that moment. Or to glare at him before demanding to know exactly what Sawyer said. Word for word. But, he never expected tear to cloud her brown eyes and her lips to tremble as she griped his upper arms for dear life.

"Hales, baby." he said running a hand through her hair "He's going to tell her. I know Luke likes to keep secrets, thinking he's protecting everyone, but he wouldn't keep this from Peyton."

"It's not that." she said as one single tear escaped "Earlier on the back porch, Peyton started rambling on about what can happen in ten minutes and I told her not to think like that but after talking to Jamie and now you….Oh god Nathan, you don't think-"

It took him a minute to realized where she was going with all her rambling but once he did, he pulled her into his arms, saying "No, Hales. God, no. I don't think anything happened like that. I'm pretty sure it's just some dick filling her head with a bunch of lies."

"That's what I told Peyton." she mumbled against his chest before pulling away, looking up at him "It's just, the more you think about, your mind wanders."

"Yeah," he said, looking like he was lost in thought.

"What is it, baby?"

Nathan looked down before asking "Are you sure Justin isn't behind this?"

"Just because you think he's a dick doesn't mean he did this." Haley said, giving her husband a look.

"Just because he's not a dick to you doesn't mean he didn't do this. I mean, think about it. You and Peyton just kind of took his word that he didn't do it."

"Justin didn't work yesterday and he has blonde hair." she said before glancing at him quickly

"What?" he asked, he knew that face. That was the face that said she had something on her mind but didn't know how he'd react to it.

"It's just…Do you think Dan has something to do with this?"

Letting out a breath, he said "It's crossed my mind but, you know how Dan is. He claims to want to get to know his grandchildren because they're the only people in his world that don't know what happen. Well, besides Jamie but it doesn't make senses. If he wanted to see Sawyer, scaring the crap out of her isn't going to help."

Haley looked him over before saying "He used to visit Jamie at school, you know. When he first got out and we wouldn't like him see him. Jamie's teacher told me about it one day."

"Yeah, one day when I picked up Jamie I saw him drive by." Nathan said "but that's what I mean. He didn't scare Jamie, he really just wanted to get to know his grandson. So, why would he scare Sawyer? I mean, of course Luke is dead against him seeing her and Dan knows that but, going out of his way to scare her isn't going to help him. If Dan does have some plan on how he's going to see Sawyer, I don't think scaring her is part of it. Besides, I haven't seen him around here lately."

"Neither have I, but you know how it is. Something goes wrong in our life and Dan usually the first person that pop's into my head."

Nathan made a face as he nodded his head, pointing at the phone, he repeated "Justin just called and said no one admitted to talking to Sawyer yesterday, let alone seeing her. You might want to call and let Peyton know."

Yeah," Haley said, letting out a deep breath before she dialed the number, putting the phone to her ear.

_***One Tree Hill***_

"You okay?" Luke asked, looking over at Peyton as the walked out of McDonald's.

"Yeah, I'm just tired." she said, giving him a smile, leaning into him as they walked towards the car.

"Well, let me drive and you can sleep on the way home."

"Luke, you're the one that's been to New York and back today. It's fine, you can-"

"Momma, just let Daddy drive." Sawyer cut in, giving her a look from her spot in his arms.

"Yeah, Momma." Luke said, mimicking him daughter.

Peyton let out a breath, failing miserably at trying to look annoyed, saying "Fine."

Sawyer let out a giggle as Luke opened the door, putting her down so she could climb into the back seat. He waited for her to get comfortable in her seat before leaning into help her with the buckles.

"I can do it, Daddy." she said, pushing his hands

"Sorry," he said, putting his hands up "I forgot."

Peyton softly laughed from the front seat and he glanced in her direction, sending her a wink before gently tugging on the straps to make sure Sawyer actually had them buckled. Climbing out the back seat, he got behind the wheel and started the car. Peyton had turned her body so she was facing Sawyer and they talked softly for a little while. Luke was so lost in his thought that the sudden silences threw him off. Stealing a quick glances in the rear view mirror he saw Sawyer's head resting against the side of her seat with her eyes closed and her mouth slightly opened.

"Do you think Dan had something to do with this?" Peyton softly asked.

Luke's jaw tighten at the mere mention of Dan and his hand gripped the steering wheel. He relaxed a bit when he felt her hand run through the hair on the back of his head, rubbing his cheek with her thumb.

"Justin was the first guy that popped in my head." he said sending her a look.

Letting out a sigh, she turned to face the front, saying "I told you, he didn't work yesterday."

"No, you took his word that he didn't work yesterday. You didn't confi-"

"Luke, it wasn't him." she said sending him a lookthat told him not to go there "And now that I know it was definitely a guy…Well, I mean Dan makes sense. You have to admit it's kinda strange we haven't seen him. We've been home a little over a month."

"Nate said he doesn't come around much." Luke said, before a look crossed his face as he wondering why he was making up excuse for the guy because, if Luke was honest, he would agree that Dan poppd into his head shortly after Justin did "I guess he could be behind it. But, I mean, if it was Dan, why would he be at TRIC? Hell, how could he be at TRIC without anyone notice?"

"I know." she said, looking out the window "But if it wasn't him, then who was it?"

He was about to reply when Peyton cell phone started to ring. "It's Haley." she mumbled before flipping it open "Hey, Hales…Well, I mean would anyone actually admit to talking to her if they scared the shit out of her?…Yeah, I know….She did…" letting out a deep breath she sent a quick glance in his direction "Thanks Hales. Yeah, we're just getting back into town. I'll call you in the morning."

"What's that all about?" he asked eyeing her as he stopped at a red light.

"Apparently, Sawyer was starting to open up to Jamie when I walked up today."

"What's she say?" he mumbled, staring at the light.

"That the dark hair man said it was a secret and she couldn't tell. But, she looked scared."

"No shit she looked scared. She's been scared out of her mind since she got home yesterday." he said, as the light turned green "Once she's in bed, I'm going to take off for a little while."

"What?" she said sending him a questioned look "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to TRIC."

"Luke come on, you just got home. This can wait until tomorrow."

"No, it can't Peyton." he said "Look, by the time I make it there it will be just after closed, I'll talk to the staff working tonight and find out what's going on. Not saying I don't trust Justin, but this is Sawyer, Peyt. The only way we'll be able to help her, is to find out what's going on."

Peyton looked over at him as he pulled in the drive way and waited until he parked the car before she reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him from getting out of the car, saying "I understand that Lucas, but if she falls asleep thinking her Daddy's here and wakes up and you're not, she is going to freak."

"She's not going to-"

"Daddy…" a sleepy voice called from the backseat.

Peyton raised an eyebrow before getting out of the car, heading towards the front door, leaving Luke to get Sawyer.

"Daddy…" she called more awake, alarmed that he hadn't answered.

"I'm right here, Sawyer." he murmured softly as he reached in the back seat to unbuckle her straps.

"Are we home?" she mumbled as she rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her small arms around his neck.

He put one of his hands on the top of her head and carefully maneuvered out of the car so he wouldn't bump her before reaching for his lap-top bag.

"Yeah, we're home, baby." he said, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

He walked into the house, dropping the bag to the floor before turning around to make sure the door was locked. As he approached the top of the stairs, he heard the shower running and knew it was Peyton's way of ensuring he was the one to put Sawyer to bed, knowing it would make it that much hard to leave.

Luke was surprised Sawyer didn't seem to stir as he changed her into her pajamas and even as he tucked her into bed, she didn't make a sound. Placing a soft kiss on the top of her head, he gave her one last look before turning to head towards the door, hoping Peyton was still in the shower so he could make it out of the house. He knew she'd be mad but hopefully he would come back with some answers.

"Daddy…" the same sleepy vice called out again "sleep with me tonight."

He stopped and let out a silent sigh before saying "Sure, Sawyer. I'll be right back."

Obviously, the girls in his life had other plans and he wasn't going to make it to TRIC tonight. He loosed his tie as he walked towards his bedroom. Thrown his suit jacket over the end of the bed, he toss his tie and dress shirt in the chair sitting in the corner. He kicked his shoes off changing into his pajama bottoms. He was walking towards the door when Peyton walked out of the bathroom.

"Where you going?" she called out causing him to peek back in the room, only to take few steps back in when he saw her attire.

Leaning against the frame of the door, he crossed his arms over his chest, saying "Another lady requested my presence for the night."

"Should I be jealous?" she said, giving him a look as she walked towards him.

"You, Peyton Scott," he said as he grabbed her by the hips, pulling her closer to him "have nothing to be jealous about." brushing a kiss softly against her lips, he mumbled "You could always join us."

"I'm alright." she laughed, placing her hands against his chest "But you have fun cramming yourself into that bed."

He let out a groan, think about how small the bed actually was. Touching his forehead to hers, he looked her in the eye, saying "Never go to bed mad."

She gave him a small smile, saying "I'm not mad. But, thanks for staying."

"I didn't have a choice." he mumbled when Sawyer's tired voice called out for him. "But first thing in the morning, I'm going to TRIC."

"Have fun." Peyton teased but gave him a slight nod, letting him know she understood about the morning as he walked out the door.

Walking into Sawyers room, he climbing into the twin bed and tried to get comfortable. It wasn't to long after he settled down that Sawyer rolled over, laying her small head against his chest. He wrapped one arm around her, while the other, rested behind his head. He knew sleep wouldn't come tonight. His mind was racing with so many thoughts that he couldn't think straight. One minute he thought it was Justin the next's he thought it was Dan. Justin was eliminated somewhere along the way when Luke remembered he had lighter hair.

Letting out a breath, he looked over at the clock and saw that it was quarter to two in the morning. He knew he could make it to TRIC just as they were closing. His plan was to talk to the staff and found out who work the day Sawyer freaked out. Then he would come home. After five minutes of debating it in his head, he gently got out of the bed before making his way towards his room.

He felt bad that he was going to have to wake her up when he saw Peyton sleeping peacefully but there was no way in hell he was going to take off without telling. In case Sawyer did wake up, he wanted Peyton to at least know where he'd gone.

"Peyton." he said, shaking her.

"Huh?" she mumbled, opening her eyes, trying to focus on his face "What's going on?"

"I'm gonna take off-"

"Luke, come on. It's going on two in the morning." she said as she sat up on her elbows, giving him a look.

"I know, I'm just going to talk to whoever's working tonight and check to see who was working that day. Then I'll be home."

Honestly, she wanted to argue with him, but she was just to tired at this point and she laid back down, saying "Fine, but you better come right back, Luke. I'm not kidding."

"I'll be home within an hour." he said giving her a kiss " I promise."

Grabbing his phone off the dresser, he walked towards the door, he heard her mumble "Justin has blonde hair."

He didn't reply but his light chuckle let her know he heard and the next thing she heard was the front door being opened and she prayed he would find out something. Anything.

_***One Tree Hill***_

On the way to TRIC, Luke had called Nathan, who merely answered with _'I'll meet you there', _almost like he'd been waiting on the call and Luke was surprised to see him leaning against his range rover when he pulled up in front of TRIC.

"What's the plan?" Nathan asked through a yawn.

"First, we talk to whoever's here." he said pulling the keys out of his pocket.

He unlocked the door and they walked in. Brittney was cleaning off some tables, Sadie was sweeping the floor and Justin stood behind the bar, wiping it down.

Looking up, he immediately put his hand up and started shaking his head, saying "I swear to god, Luke. I did not say a word to Sawyer."

Luke merely nodded his head as he looked between the two girls.

"I didn't work that day." Sadie said.

"I worked later but by the time I got here, Peyton and Sawyer were gone."

"Do you know who worked earlier?"

Britney said "The cook did. He might still be in the kitchen."

Luke walked towards the kitchen without a second glance and open the doors. He saw the cook standing by the sink and called out "You worked yesterday?"

Turning around, he nodded his head, saying "Yes."

"Did you make Sawyer something to eat?"

"Grilled cheese, fires and a pickle. Haley took her milk out to her." the cook said "Why?"

Seeing the way Luke's jaw locked in place, Nathan stepped in saying "Did you take the food out to her?"

"No, that was the waiter…What's his name?" he paused before snapping his fingers "Kris, that his name Kris."

Luke immediately turned and walked out of the kitchen, saying "Justin, I need Kris's address."

"Luke, Kris said he didn't talk to her."

"Well, the cook just told me he took Sawyer her food, so I still want to talk to him."

Justin merely nodded his head before pulling it up on the computer. Luke listen to the address before walking out the door, Nathan following closely behind him, getting into his car just before he pulled off.

"So," Nathan asked after a couple of minutes of silence "What's the plan?"

"I'm just going to talk to him."

He looked over at his brother in disbelief. If it was one thing Nathan knew about Luke it was there was no way in hell he was just going to 'talk' to the man responsible for scaring his daughter. None the less, he just sat back as his brother navigated through the streets they grew up on finally stopping outside a house.

"Doesn't look like anyone's up." Nathan commented but judging from the glare Luke was now sending him, he didn't appreciate it.

They didn't say a word as they walked up to the house and Nathan knew from the way Luke was pounding on the door, there wasn't going to be much talking involved. As soon as the door was open, Luke push a sleepy looking Kris further into the house before walking in. Nathan quickly followed, shutting the door behind him.

"What the hell did you say to Sawyer?" Luke exclaimed

Kris scrabbled to his feet, saying "Man, I don't-"

Lucas cut him off by grabbing him by the shoulders and shoving him into the wall, placing his forearm against Kris's throat, saying "Stop with the shit, I already know you're the one that brought her food to her. What the hell did you say?"

By this time, Nathan had wondered through out the house and was relieved to find it empty. The last thing he need was a headline tomorrow saying how him and his brother were arrested for assault.

"Look, Man." Kris squeaked out as Luke pushed against this throat harder "Alright, I told her….your heart…I cant' breathe"

The look in Luke's eyes told him he wasn't playing around but he he pulled back his forearm enough to allow him some oxygen.

"I told you your heart wasn't doing to good, that you could leave or die."

That simple statement causing Luke to pull back and hit Kris square across the jaw, knocking him to the ground. He stepped back, sending a look over at Nate, as he rubbed a hand over his mouth. He knew he need to calm down but all he really wanted to do right now, was kill the man that stood before him.

"Anything else?" Luke asked so calmly that it freighted Nathan a little.

"That's it."

Luke took a step towards him, clearly not believing a word that came out of his mouth and Kris back himself up against the wall, putting his hand's up, saying "I told her to keep it a secret and that you two thought she was bad."

"Why would you tell a four year old that her Dad was going to die?" Nathan said before Luke had a chance to reply "What do you have to gain by scaring the shit out of Sawyer?"

"Communication's got crossed." was all Kris mumbled as he stood up.

Either Luke didn't like his answer or it was just because Kris was standing up but, none the less he struck him again, Closed fist right across the jaw knock him to the ground again.

"Come on, Man." Kris said as he spit out some blood "I get that you're pissed but stop."

"Oh, I'm pissed." Luke laughed sarcastically "Damn right I'm pissed. Because of you, my little girl freaks out the moment I lea-"

"Communications crossed?" Nathan interjected, pull Luke back so he could see Kris "What the hell's that mean?"

Standing up, he back away from Luke, saying "All I know is you two have onewicky step-mom."

"Step-mom…" Luke trailed off, sending Nathan a look before grabbing Kris by the shoulders and steering him out the door, telling Nathan to grab his shoe's.

"What's going on man?" Kris asked as Luke pulled the door open.

"Get in." was all he replied, nodding his head towards the car. When Kris didn't move, Luke shoved him in the car before walking towards the driver side.

"Why's you need his shoe's?" Nathan asked as he got in the car.

"Because he's going to have a long walk ahead of him. I figured it was the least we could do." looking in the rear view mirror, he asked "What motel did you meet her at?"

"Look man, she's long gone-"

"What motel?" Luke asked through gritting teeth.

Kris told him the name and sat back. No body spoke a word as Luke sped through the street. Nathan sat thinking about how tomorrow headline just got worse if they get caught, Kris was praying that the worst he walked away with was the black eye Luke had already giving him and Luke, well Luke couldn't believe that this actually was connected back to Dan.

"What room?" Luke said as they approached the motel.

"3A." Kris replied.

Luke parked the car and jumped out. Kris jump out as soon as Nathan got out of the car. Luke banged on the door a couple of times before peeking through the crack in the curtains.

"She skipped town this morning." Kris said

Nathan gave him a look before throwing his shoe at him, saying "Put your shoes on and shut up."

"No," Luke said before looking at Kris "What did she want?"

"A picture of all three of the kids and to know if Sawyer was scared of Dan. Which is where the mix up comes in. See, I thought she said scare her and she really said-"

"Shut up." Nathan said, slapping him across the head.

Luke gave him a look before walking towards the lobby. Nathan looked confused but followed after him, not really caring if Kris was there when they came back out or not. By the time he reached the door, Luke was walking back out.

"It was Rachel." he state, putting his hands on his hips "She used a fake name, but it was her. The guy described her perfectly."

"I told you she left this morning." Kris said as he approached them.

Luke took a step towards him but this time it was Nathan's fist that met Kris's face, sending him to the ground for the third time that night.

"What?" Nathan ask when Luke look at him "I've wanted to do that since I saw the look on Sawyers face this afternoon. She is my god-daughter."

He swore he say Luke's lips tug up into a slight smile as he said "Let's get out of here."

Nathan nodded and followed Luke back to the car.

"Hey." Kris called out

"Just so we're clear, you are fired." Luke said as he stopped and turned to face Kris "And stay the hell away from my family. You can pass that on to your little red headed friend to."

Kris looked dumbfounded as Luke and Nathan got into the car before pulling off. It wasn't to long later, they approached the town.

"Just drop me off at home." Nathan said as he let out a yawn "I'll drop Hales off at TRIC tomorrow and get my car then."

Luke nodded before saying "Thanks Nate. Tonig-"

"Don't worry about it." Nathan quickly cut in "Like I said, she is my god-daughter."

Luke laughed a little as he pulled up in front of Nathan's house.

"What?" Nathan asked when he saw the look on Luke's face.

He let out a sigh before asking "You have Dan's number, don't you?"

"Yeah," Nathan said as he pulled out his phone "Why?"

"I just want to call him and tell him to back off. Sawyer doesn't need to go through something like this, again."

Nathan shrugged his shoulder and handed his phone to Luke before they got out of the car. Luke leaned against it, pulling up Dan's number and stared at for a couple of minutes. Letting out a deep breath, he hit send and put the phone up to his ear.

"Hello." he heard after a couple of rings.

"Dan?" Luke questioned, not wanting to go off on the wrong person but once he heard yes, he didn't hold back any longer "I don't know what you and your wife are up to but it stops now-"

"Lucas?" Dan questioned, cutting him off

"I'm not kidding Dan, I will do everything in my power to make sure you never see Sawyer ever in your miserable life. Let alone have any contact with her. And don't try pulling that move where you come around when I'm not home because Peyton stands behind me on this 100%. That time she let you hold Sawyer on the porch was the closest you're ever going to get to either one of them again. Got it?"

"Lucas, I really have no-"

"Ugh." Luke exclaimed before throwing the phone, with all his might, down the road.

Nathan flinched when he heard it hit the ground before looking over at him, saying "That was my-"

"I know, I know." Luke said, rubbing a hand over his mouth "He just starting denying it and I didn't want to hear it."

"I understand that." Nathan said with a nod of his head "But, you could have just hit the end button. That would have worked to but I can understand why you would want to-"

"I buy you a new one." Luke said, glaring at him.

"Go home Luke." Nathan laughed "You've played superman again and got the bad guy. Go home to Sawyer, both of them. Don't worry about Dan. He knows you're on to him. He'll either back off or come out of the wood work all together."

"Thanks." Luke mumbled sarcastically as he walked towards his car.

"Well, at least this time, you know what you're up against, right?" Nathan pointed out

"Yeah, I guess." Luke said, before giving Nathan a look "Order a new phone and tell me how much I owe you."

"Alright." Nathan laughed as he walked towards the door.

Luke took off and was pulling into his drive way a short time later. He hadn't realized how tired he was until he started to climb the stairs. Peeking in on Sawyer, to make sure everything was okay, he was surprised to see Peyton laying in bed with her. Walking further into the room, he got close enough to Sawyers face and noticed it didn't look like she had been crying. Letting out a little laugh he walked to his and Peyton's room and grabbed a blanket and pillow off the bed. He should have figured Peyton would have gone in there after he left in case Sawyer woke up.

Throwing the pillow down on the floor by Sawyer's bed, Luke got as comfortable as he could before closing his eyes, finally able to go to sleep.

**_*One Tree Hill*_**

"Coming to bed, Baby?" she questioned as she walked out in the living room "What's wrong?"

Dan looked away from he phone in his hand, saying "Lucas just called."

"Really," she commented as she moved closer to him "What'd he have to say?"

"To stay away from his family."

"So the same thing Nathan says to you." she commented again "They really despite you, don' they?"

HE just gave her a look before he sat the phone down on the table as he took a seat in the chair. Suddenly, a phonograph appeared in front of him. At first glance, the only one he recognized was Jamie. He was older but there was no denying the boy in the picture was Jamie Scott. One he realized it was a picture of his grand-kids, he sent a glance over at his wife.

"How'd you get this?"

"I have my ways." she stated with a smile on her face "I figured if they're not going to let you see your grandchildren, I could at least get a recent picture."

"So, that's Sawyer and Elizabeth?" he asked running his finger-tips across the top of the photo. This was the first time he's seen Liz and Sawyer, god he hadn't seen Sawyer since that day on the porch.

"That's them." she said as a smile crossed her face "Hey, babe. I have a great idea for a special we can do on the show..."


	11. Dan, Rachel and Lindsey

Thanks DKnAK for betaing this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill….someone else does.

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews: HJS-NS-23, sky love, AnnOTH21, grayfan, RJMoonspell4, missshay16, OTHGirl24, StarlightSweetheart, LPfan4ever, Juzzy88, DKnAK, mthorne13, annie-escape and Peyton4ever. They really do mean a lot to me.

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_**Going home, again**_

_**Dan, Rachel and Lindsey…**_

Peyton stretched and winced when her hand hit the wall. It took her a couple of seconds to realize that she was in Sawyer's room, but the confusion was quickly replaced with fear when she noticed her daughter wasn't in the bed next to her. She was about to call out Sawyer's name as she started to get out of the bed when she noticed Luke on the floor. A smile tugged at her lips when she saw Sawyer cuddled up against her father's side, his arm wrapped around her small body, both of them sleeping peacefully.

Not being able to pass up the precious image lying before her, Peyton quietly made it out of the room and grabbed the camera.

"Momma?" Sawyer asked, her voice filled with sleep after the flash went off.

"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to wake you up." Peyton whispered as Sawyer sat up, rubbing her eyes "Why are you on the floor?"

Sawyer gave her a look as she shrugged her shoulders, saying, "Daddy was on the floor. I didn't want him to sleep alone."

Her words tugged at Peyton's heart and a smile crossed her face. There was no doubt about it; Sawyer Scott absolutely adored her father.

"Why'd you kick Daddy out of bed?" Sawyer asked as she made her way towards her mom, reaching her hands up indicating she wanted to be picked up.

"I didn't kick him out of bed." Peyton started to explain, scooping her daughter up in her arms, giving her a look and causing Sawyer to burst into a round of giggles "He had to take care of something last night and I didn't want you to wake up alone."

Sawyer gave her a smile before wrapping her little arms around her neck, saying, "I love you, Momma."

"I love you to, Sawyer." Peyton said as she started to walk down the hallway towards the stairs.

A smile tugged at Luke's lips as their voices faded away. The flash had woke him up also but he decided to keep his eyes closed. He loved listening to his girls talk to each other. Especially when they thought no one was listening. He often pretended to be asleep or too involved in his computer as they interacted with each other. The way they talked or how Peyton could always get a smile to cross Sawyer's face, made his heart soar. If he could just sit back and watch them for them rest of his life, he'd die a happy man.

Then the events from last night flashed in his head and the smile instantly fell from his face. He wished he could go back in time to a few days ago and make sure Kris never came in contact with Sawyer. Hell, he wished he could go back to when they first got here and fire him before anything could've happened.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he let out a groan as he sat up. Sleeping on the floor was uncomfortable when he was seventeen, now it was just down - right painful and he was questioning why he even did it. Until he heard Sawyer's giggle float through the house, then he remembered.

After he took a shower, he made his way down the stairs and slowed his pace as he approached the kitchen.

"Be careful, Sawyer. That's hot." he heard Peyton warn in a soft voice.

"We have to hurry before Daddy wakes up."

A smile crossed his face as he pictured her with her hands on her hips, sending her mom a pointed look and sure enough, once he was in the doorway of the kitchen that was her stance. She didn't notice him as she turned back to face the counter. As usual, Peyton had moved a chair over so she could see, something he's complained about many times, not finding it very safe for his four year old to be so close to the stove. None the less, Peyton would simply nod her head but when he woke the next morning, Sawyer would be in the same spot, helping. He eventually learned to keep his mouth shut.

"Not too much, Baby." Peyton said as she hand the syrup bottle to Sawyer.

It had become a routine for them. Peyton would make the waffles, pancakes or whatever the choice for breakfast was and Sawyer would 'help'. It took a couple of tries and Luke got used to eating them with too much syrup, a smile planted on his face a while ago. Most of the time, he would push the plate away after a couple of bites exclaiming he was full and sneak something later because of the smile Sawyer wore when she tells him she helped. A smile that resembled the one her mother often sent his way. He could never be the reason for that smile to faultier.

"Momma," Sawyer questioned, sending a quick look at Peyton as she sat the bottle down, "Where'd Daddy go last night?"

"It smells good in here, ladies." He said from the door way, saving Peyton from having to say anything.

"Daddy!" Sawyer exclaimed as she turned to face him.

"Morning baby girl." he said, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head before looking towards Peyton, dropping a soft kiss on her neck, "Morning Mrs. Scott."

A smile instantly crossed Peyton lips. Even after four years of marriage, hearing him call her that still sent a shiver down her spin.

"Morning, Baby." she murmured back before brushing her lips against his for a quick kiss, which he only deepen while still keeping it PG for the prying eyes of their four year old.

Sawyer smiled up at her parents. Often, this is where she would make some smart remark causing Peyton and Luke to pull away from each other, looking guilty because of getting caught in the act. But secretly, she loved watching her parents like this. She loved seeing the secret smile her parents only reserved for each other. They were in love, that's what her grandma had told her when she asked why her Momma and Daddy always looked at each other like that. From that day on, Sawyer would always watch them- secretly of course.

Sure enough, Luke sent said smile in Peyton's direction before scooping Sawyer up in his arms, causing her to giggle as he walked towards the table. Peyton wasn't oblivious to the fact that Luke was avoiding her questioning gaze she had sent him as he sat Sawyer down in a chair. She knew he was avoiding the subject of last night and the looks he was sending her confirmed he had indeed found something out.

She frowned at that fact. She didn't understand why he wouldn't tell them. She thought it would be better to just get it out there. Tell Sawyer whatever he knew and maybe that would get her talking. But as she sat back in her chair the frown was replaced with a smile and she realized why he hadn't said anything. There currently weren't any tears or screams for Daddy, no, they were laughing and joking around as Sawyer demanded for Luke to let her pour more syrup on his waffles.

For the first time in nearly 48 hours, Sawyer was truly genuinely happy and she knew he just wanted to enjoy this moment. So, Peyton gave his leg a light squeeze and sent him a smile when he turned to look at her, letting him know she understood. In return, he brushed his lips across hers, giving her a half smirk as he pulled away before returning his attention to the demanding four year old calling his name.

Peyton felt like peace had finally been restored. They had survived the first round of drama to come their way since they arrived in Tree Hill. The feeling quickly faded when she felt Luke give her shoulder a light squeeze as he passed her on his way to the living room to turn the TV on for Sawyer. Because it was then that she realized they hadn't survived anything yet. No, they were still in the middle of the storm.

With a heavy heart, she cleared the table and started doing the dishes when she heard a sigh coming from the doorway. She didn't need to turn around to know Luke was standing there and she braced herself.

"So," she said when she couldn't take the silence anymore, "You gonna tell me?"

He let out another sigh as he approached her and wrapped his arms around her slim waist before dropped butterfly light kisses along her bare shoulder, saying, "It was Kris."

She looked out the window as she tried to remember who Kris was and then turned to look at Luke surprised, saying, "Seriously?"

"That's what I thought." he said, giving her a look. "But yeah, it was definitely him. He admitted to it."

"What'd he say?"

"Pretty much what Sawyers been telling us." he said causing her to raise an eyebrow, not really understanding what that meant. Letting out a deep breath he continued, "That we thought she was a bad girl, that there was something wrong with my heart, to keep it a secret and that I was going to die."

By the time he finished the look of confusion on her face had been replaced by anger and he didn't miss the tears welling up in her eyes that she was so desperately trying to hold back. He pulled her closer to him, just wanting to feel that feeling of security he felt every time she wrapped her arms around his neck.

After a few minutes of silence, she heard him mumble, "There's more."

She instantly pulled away and looked him in the eye and knew exactly what he meant. She could tell from the look he was giving her. She's seen that look often, not recently but when they were in high school and right after they had Sawyer. That look only meant one thing: Dan Scott was involved.

"You're kidding?" she said, giving him a look, "Dan?"

He let out a soft sarcastic laugh as his hands dropped from her hips before he leaned against the counter, saying, "Actually it was Rachel doing all the dirty work but, yeah, as always, it came back to Dan."

Luke's words ran circles in her head. Rachel Gat- Scott wasn't a person Peyton Scott got a long with very well. Actually, that statement wasn't very true. In high school, they really didn't talk to each other. Sure, Brooke hated her at first, so that automatically meant Peyton didn't like her. But somewhere along the way, Peyton and Rachel stop being enemies and tolerated each other. Then the big fall out happened between Brooke and Peyton and even though they didn't talk, Peyton knew Rachel and Brooke were friends. Then Rachel disappeared all together until that last high school party everyone attended.

Things got better from there. But it wasn't too much longer after that that things fell apart again. As usual, it really didn't have anything to do with Peyton. It was something between Brook and Rachel; until the fateful night of Lucas' and Lindsay's engagement party. Just thinking about it still made Peyton's skin crawl for obvious reasons but none of them had to do with Rachel. That was until she saw the empty envelope that had once held the money Peyton used to pay back Brooke and then some. After that day, things just got worse. Rachel had married Dan a year ago and had officially become a Scott.

"You sure?" she finally asked, she knew there wasn't any point. He wouldn't have said that if he wasn't sure or at least would have told her he thought it was Rachel. "Why?"

"Apparently, she wanted to know what Sawyer knew about Dan. Kris said he thought she said to scare Sawyer. I'm really not too sure- as soon as I found out who was involved I made him show me where Rachel was staying and the guy in the lobby confirmed it was her."

"You kidnapped him?" Peyton exclaimed

Luke raised an eyebrow wondering why that stood out to her the most after everything he had just told her but immediately defended himself "We didn't kidnap him, we just wanted him to show us where she was stay-"

"We?"

"Nate and I." he said before continuing, "Anyway, we just had him show us where she was staying. I guess she wanted a picture of the three kids and wanted to know what we had told Sawyer about Dan."

Peyton nodded her head as she processed all of the information before looking over at him, asking "Does Haley know?"

Luke shrugged his shoulders and went to reply when the front door burst open and they heard Haley exclaim, "Can you believe them?"

"Who, Aunt Haley?" Sawyer asked, looking over at her confused.

Haley gave her niece a smile, saying, "No one Sawyer. Where are your Mom and Dad?"

"Peyt's in the kitchen." Luke told her when he walked into the room, picking Sawyer up off the floor, "Come on, it's time to get dressed."

Luke gave Haley a quick hug as she passed them causing Sawyer to exclaim they were squishing her. Luke laughed as he walked up the stairs and Haley walked towards the kitchen with a smile on her face as she listened to them bicker with each other. The smile soon faded when she saw Peyton sitting at the table, stirring her tea with a spoon, staring off into space with a blank look on her face.

"Hey." Haley said softly as she sat across from her.

Peyton looked startled but gave her a smile, saying, "Hey."

Haley gave her a half smile before jumping in head first, asking again, "Can you believe them?"

"I know." Peyton said, giving her a look, "Why's it always got to come back to Dan? Just once I would like to be able to say it had nothing to do with Dan- but it always does."

Haley laughed, saying, "I don't think there's ever going to come a time when Dan isn't involved somehow."

"Yeah," she agreed before taking a sip of her tea. "How are you doing with all this?"

"Oh I'm pissed." Haley immediately responded. "And I badly want to get my hands on Rachel."

"Get in line." Peyton mumbled.

"It's about damn time if you ask me." Haley said causing Peyton to look at her confused. "Well, think about it. Whenever something goes on and it comes back to Dan. Nathan and Luke are the ones that get to take their anger out on him. It's about time we got to hit someone and let our anger out."

"I'm sure if you told Luke and Nate you wanted to punch Dan, they would have let you."

"Please, they won't let that man near either of us." Haley said, "Or the kids."

"Yeah," she replied, nodding her head. "So, Dan's never seen Liz, huh?"

"He showed up at the hospital but Nathan told him to leave. As far as I know, he's never seen her until now."

"What about Jamie? They were pretty close."

"Jamie still talks to him once in a while and watches him on TV from time to time but it's not the same anymore. Jamie's not five anymore and Dan doesn't look so innocent in his eyes now a days." Haley paused as she sent Peyton a look before going on, "What about Sawyer? Does she know about Dan?"

Peyton let out a heavy sigh as she sat back in the chair sending Haley a look, saying "She knows Luke's dad's name is Dan and she knows that's how Nate and Luke are related. She knows about Keith, that he's Lilly's dad, how he helped raise Luke and that he's dead but she doesn't know the whole story. Luke's never wanted to tell her everything. He's always said Dan would never have any part of her life so what was the point in bringing up old memories, painfully memories."

"What about Lilly? I mean she knows what happen doesn't she?"

"Of course. Karen's always been upfront about it with Lilly, but talking about an uncle that killed her Dad isn't something she liked to talk about. I mean, she'll talk about Keith but never about what happened to him."

"I can see where you two are coming from." Haley said after a couple seconds. "I mean if Jamie never found that picture or starting having those nightmares, I can't say we would have told Dan."

"Until he showed up." Peyton said, resting her elbow on the table placing her chin against her palm, sending Haley a look.

"Yeah," she said nodding her head in agreement, "because let's face it. He always shows up eventually."

"Yeah." Peyton said, nodding her head in agreement before looking over at her. "Wait…He's not in Tree Hill, is he?"

"I haven't seen him around. Nathan doesn't think so. But I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up soon. Which reminds me." Haley said as she pulled out a folded piece of paper from her purse.

"What's this?" Peyton asked as she took it.

"That is the bill for this." she said pulling out a bag that held the remainder of Nathan's phone.

Peyton laughed lightly, asking, "What happened?"

"Nathan thought it would be a good idea to let Luke call Dan from his phone."

Peyton gave Haley a look as she took the bag from her hand, saying, "That didn't end well."

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Where are we going, Daddy?" Sawyer asked.

Luke looked down at his daughter when they stopped at a cross walk. She knew where they were going. She was the one who put up a big fuss when Peyton mentioned it as they walked out the door. Still, that didn't stop her from asking, five different times, since they'd left the house and three different times since he'd parked the car; which was probably why she wasn't fazed when Luke didn't answer her this time.

Once the light indicated it was safe to cross the street, Luke looked both ways before giving her hand a gentle tug. He held back the laughter as she jumped over every crack in the pavement. He was about to ask her what she was doing when he heard her mumble something about stepping on a crack and braking her mother's back. Something he was pretty sure Jamie had taught her.

"Daddy, I don't want to try on a dress." Sawyer said, looking up at him and giving him a pout that resembled the one her mother often gave him when she wanted him to give in- and he usually did. "Let's go to the park instead."

"We're going to go to the park, Baby girl." he said with a light laugh as he held open the door, "After you try on the dress Aunt Brooke made you."

Sawyer crossed her arms over her chest, sending a glare up at her father obviously not liking the answer he just gave her and refused to take a step into the store. The door opening got Brooke's attention and she had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing at the two of them staring intently at each other. Luke simply raised an eyebrow and Sawyer turned on her heel to walk into the store with a scowl on her face.

"Now that's not a pretty face, Little Brooke."

A smile crossed the young girls face and she ran towards Brooke, her arms stretched wide, squealing, "Aunt Brooke."

Brooke laughed when she heard Luke mumble something under his breath but scooped Sawyer up in her arms, giving her a tight hug, saying, "Well you seem like you're in a good mood today."

Sawyer's grin grew wider as she said, "Daddy's home."

"I heard." she said eyeing Luke as he followed them towards the back. "How's it going, Super Hero?"

Sawyer looked between the adults confused and Luke let out a groan as he took a seat in a chair, saying, "I guess you've talked to Peyt."

"And Haley and a little to Nathan but yeah, I heard what happen last night. How's your hand?" she questioned as she helped Sawyer slip on the dress she'd made her.

"Fine." he said as he looked down at his hand, making a fist a couple of times. "See."

Brooke rolled her eyes as she started to pin where she needed to alter the dress, looking up at Sawyer, she poked her in the nose, saying, "You're to tiny, little girl."

"It's because I'm a little girl, Aunt Brooke." Sawyer replied giving Brooke a duh look before looking back to the mirror.

Brooke softly laughed as she stood up, saying, "That you are."

Sawyer nodded her head in agreement before holding out the sides of her dress, spinning in place. Brooke softly laughed as she walked towards the desk, glancing at Luke who was intently staring at a spot on the wall with his arms cross over his chest.

"You alright, Broody?" she asked

"Huh," he said looking up, "Yeah everything's fine, Brooke."

"Uh huh." she said with a slight nod of her head, clearly not believing him.

"Daddy," Sawyer called out causing him to meet her eyes in the mirror, "Where'd you go last night?"

"I had to talk to someone." he simply said as he stood up and walked towards her, looking over at Brooke, "Are you done?"

"Yeah, I got everything I need." Brooke said as she turned to face them, pointing a finger at Luke, "You need to feed her more."

"You've seen this kid eat. She eats everything in sight. Just like her Mom." he defended as he helped Sawyer change back into the clothes she'd come in, handing the dress to Brooke. "What's this for any way?"

"Because she's my favorite four year old," Brooke stated simply.

"Thanks Aunt Brooke." Sawyer said, giving Brooke a tight hug before taking off towards the front of the store.

"No problem, kiddo." Brooke called after her with a slight laugh before turning to Luke, "You're going to tell her, right?"

"Yeah, after we go to the park I figured I'd take her out for some ice cream and talk to her then."

Brooke once again nodded her head as they started walking towards the front of the store, asking "I know she said she was fine, but how's Peyton really doing?"

"I think she's relieved to know what actually happened but…" he paused as he rubbed the back of his neck sending a quick glance at Sawyer, "It's almost as if she's just as afraid of something happening as Sawyer is."

"This whole thing sacred her just as much as it scared Sawyer." she pointed out.

"Yeah, me too, but you didn't see the way Peyton insisted I take Sawyer with me today. Not that I mind, I planned to anyway but still, it was like she doesn't think anything will happen if Sawyer's with me."

"Because she knows you know what kind of hell you'll have to pay if you don't come home with her." Brooke laughed causing him to glare at her and the smile fell from her face. "Luke, Sawyer was scared out of her mind yesterday. Peyton probably just wanted you take her today to reassure Sawyer that you weren't going anywhere."

"But I'm not." he exclaimed causing Sawyer to stop what she was doing and look over at them.

Brooke gave Sawyer a smile when she started to approach them as she rubbed her hand up and down Luke's arm trying to help him calm down, saying "I know Luke and so does Peyton but she," she nodded her head towards Sawyer, "was told you could die. That's scary for an adult let alone a little girl."

"Daddy, can we go to the park now?' Sawyer asked as she wrapped her small hand in his.

"Yeah," he said giving her a reassuring smile, "Let's go to the park."

"Thanks for the dress Aunt Brooke." Sawyer said over her shoulder, waving bye to her.

"It was my pleasure Little Brooke. You two have fun."

A short walk later they ended up at the park. After two in a half hours of swinging, sliding down the slide and Luke chasing Sawyer around the jungle gym, he decided it was time to talk to Sawyer. After a quick detour to the ice cream stand, they made their way down to the sand and sat down over- looking the water.

Luke waited until she had finished her ice cream cone and cleaned her up as best as he could with the couple of napkins he managed to grab before she'd pulled him away from the counter. He told her he needed to talk to her about something and a smile tugged at his lips when she turned to face him, sitting on her knees, resting her small hands on her thighs, staring at him intently, letting him know he had her full attention.

"Last night, Uncle Nathan and I went to talk to Kris." he started and Sawyer looked at him confused and he braced himself as he repeated the words she had said to Jamie, "The dark haired main from TRIC."

Fear. That was the only word that came to Luke's mind when he saw the look on his daughters face and his hands instantly dug into the sand at his side. Until she crawled into his lap, burying her face into his neck as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

After waiting a few minutes to see if she would say anything, he softly said, "He told me the secret."

That seem do the trick and Sawyer immediately started to ramble "He told me it was a secret and Lilly said you're not supposed to tell a secret. I'm sorry, Daddy. Don't lea-"

"Sawyer." he interrupted "Nothing that man told you is true, okay? I'm fine and I promise you, I'm not going die anytime soon. And you know no one thinks you're bad girl, right?"

"But he said-"

"I know what he said, baby." he gently interrupted, pulling Sawyer back so they were looking at each other, "But that man lied."

"Momma said people shouldn't lie. That it's not nice." she replied, her blue eyes wide.

"And she's right. But that doesn't mean people don't do it and I promise you, everything Kris told you was a lie."

She seemed to think about it for a couple of minutes before asking, "I'm not bad?"

"No baby. I think you're pretty great."

"And your heart's okay?" she asked placing her small hand of his heart.

"Better then okay."

"And you're not leaving me and Momma?"

Luke let out a sigh as he pulled her to his chest, placing a kiss on the top of her head, saying, "I'm going to leave here and there but I promise you I'll always come back. Always."

"Where are you going?" she asked alarmed as she pulled away.

He looked into his daughter's eyes trying to decide the best way to explain what was going on. "You know how I had to go to New York yesterday?"

She looked confused but nodded her head, saying, "To talk about my book."

"Yeah, to talk about your book." he said with a slight laugh. "Well, it turns out, a lot of people like your book, so I have to go to a couple of book stores."

"For what?"

"I guess people want to meet me."

"But why? It's about me. Why don't people want to meet me?"

His immediate response was to tell her he didn't want her meeting a bunch of strange people but instead he said, "Because I wrote it, Baby. Yeah it's about you but people don't know you're a real person."

"I think I should go with you because then they'll know about me," she said with a slight nod of her head "Can I go?"

"What about Momma? We can't leave her here all by herself."

"She can come too."

He laughed, wishing he could go back to the time where life was a simple as Sawyer was making it out to be.

"How about this?" he said, "You and Momma can come out to see me when I'm on the road."

"But I don't want you to be lonely, Daddy."

"I'll be fine, Sawyer." he tried to reassure his young daughter. "Besides, if you come and keep me company, who's going to stay with Momma?"

Sawyer thought about what he said before asking, "You promise I can come see you?"

"Without a doubt and I'll be coming home in-between stops. I won't be gone too long."

"Promise?"

"Promise." he confirmed

"Okay." she added as she climbed off his lap, "Can we go back to the park?"

He laughed lightly as he said, "There's one more thing I want to talk to you about but then, yeah, I guess we could go back to the park for a little while."

"What Daddy?"

"I want you to know that you can always talk to me or your Mom if something's bothering you. I don't want you to think you have to keep things, like what happened a couple of days ago, to yourself. Your Mom and I are always here for you."

"But he said it was a secret." she softly said as she looked down at her hands.

He put his finger under her chin, making her look him in the eye before saying, "I know he did Baby but it doesn't matter what anyone says to you. If it's making you feel bad or if you don't know what to do or if you just feel like you have to tell someone, you can come to us. Not just us either. Aunt Haley, Uncle Nathan or Aunt Brooke, if something bugging you, you can talk to any of us."

"Okay Daddy." she said with a smile before giving him a tight hug. "Can we go to the park now?"

Laughing, he stood up with Sawyer in his arms, saying, "Yeah, let's go to the park, Baby girl."

He wasn't sure if she understood exactly what he'd just said but his daughter had a smile on her face again and was acting like she didn't have a care in the world. And that was all that mattered to him.

_***One Tree Hill***_

Peyton let out a sigh of relief as she pulled her car into the driveway. It had been a long day and she would have preferred to spend it with her family rather than spending all day stuck inside her office. Around three in the afternoon, Luke had called to inform her he had talked to Sawyer and she seemed to be doing better but she was still refusing to step foot anywhere near TRIC which meant no surprised visits. Peyton told him she would be home in a couple of hours but a couple hours turned in to seven and but the time Haley and her walked out of TRIC, it was dark.

She was surprised to see the light on in the living room as she made her way towards the back door. The image she saw once she entered the living room instantly brought a smile to her face; Luke was lying across the couch, his back resting against the armrest and Sawyer sat on his lap sideways, her head resting against his chest in a peaceful sleep. He was typing away on his laptop and placed a soft kiss on the young girls head without taking his eyes off the screen, the ending of Snow White playing on the TV. Neither of them noticed Peyton standing in the door way, or so she thought.

"I would have brought you some dinner if I had known a couple of hours meant seven." he said without taking his eyes off the computer.

"Sorry. Haley and I got carried away in the studio." she said softly as she walked towards them.

He turned his head to look at her, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "She tried to stay up and wait for you but we had a hard day. She didn't even make it past Snow White living with the dwarfs. "

"Oh I'm sure." she said, with a nod of her head. "Playing at the park, going to the beach then back to the park. I don't know how you handled it."

"Don't forget Brooke's store and the ice cream." he added, giving her a smirk before leaning forward, brushing his lips across hers. "I missed you."

"I missed you to." she replied, sending him a smile before brushing some hair out of Sawyer's face. "You really think she's alright?"

He tilted his head to the side to get a better look at Sawyer's face before nodding his head and looking back to Peyton, saying, "I think she'll be fine. The next step is getting her to go to TRIC again."

"No luck, huh?"

"When I suggested we bring you dinner she suggested we call and tell you to order a pizza like us."

Peyton laughed softly, not wanting to disturbed Sawyer, saying, "Nice to know she cares."

"There's some left over. It's on the counter."

"I'm good." she said as she took a seat in the chair, kicking off her heels. "Your brother made sure I was taken care of."

"Oh yeah." he said not looking up from the computer screen.

He could tell by the look on her face that she had said it like that just to get a reaction out of him. It was all in good fun, he knew better than anyone that there wasn't anything between Nathan and Peyton besides a sibling like love but that didn't change the fact that Luke still got the heebie-jeebies just at the thought of Peyton and Nathan together, which is why he said, "It's about time."

She softly laughed, bringing a smile to his face when she noticed a piece of paper with a bunch of dates on it, sitting on the table.

"What's this?"

"Huh?" he replied, looking over at her. "Oh yeah. I need you to look at that and tell me if there are any dates that don't work."

"So the meeting in New York was about a book tour?" she asked.

"Among other things and since you're usually the one telling me when something important is going on, I figured you'd know if there was a problem with one of the dates better than I would." he said, setting the lap top on the table before standing up, trying not to wake Sawyer up in the process.

Peyton understood his reasoning for having her look at the dates but what caught her attention was the 'among other things' part. They really hadn't gotten a chance to talk about what happened in New York but before she had a chance to ask him about it, Luke was half way up the stairs heading towards Sawyer's bedroom.

Peyton grabbed the calendar out of the kitchen before making her way towards their bedroom. Quickly changing out of her clothes, she put on one of his old t-shirts and a pair of boxers before for sitting down on the bed, comparing dates. And that's how Luke found her five minutes later. She hadn't noticed him resting against the door way or at least she didn't turn to acknowledge him and he watched her for a couple of minutes as her eyes darted back in forth from the calendar to the piece of paper.

He knew he needed to tell her about Lindsey and it wasn't that he was scared to, he knew, or at least he hoped, Peyton knew, there wasn't anything to worry about. He was pretty sure she did but still, the thought of your husband traveling around the country with his ex-fiancé could make your mind go into overdrive and that he knew for a fact. He knew she would say that she was fine with it and make a jab or two when he went to leave. That would be her way of handling it but he didn't want her sitting around wondering if something was going on. Not that she would but he knew the thought would always be in the back of her head weather she wanted to admit it or not.

"So, Lindsey's my editor again." he rushed out, deciding the 'ripping off the Band-Aid approach' was best and noticed how her shoulders tensed up for a split second.

He made his way towards the bed and took her silence as a sign to continue. "The publishing company thought it would be better for her to handle this book tour because of the success of Ravens."

Peyton wanted to point out how Ravens was a great work of art. Not saying that the Comet wasn't but Ravens pretty much sold itself. She wanted to tell him to call his publishing company and tell them to shove it. That there was no way in hell he was going to be working that closely with his ex and when she finally got the courage to look at him, his face told her all she had to do was tell him that and he would. But instead, she didn't.

Nodding her head, she said, "Well, I guess they're right."

"Come on, Peyt. Don't do that." he said pulling the piece of paper and the calendar out of her hands, tossing them to the floor. "Tell me what's going on in your head."

"I'm being serious, Luke." she said as she laid her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat for a couple of seconds. "I didn't mean for it to sound like that. They know what's best and if they think Lindsey is key to your success then there's nothing I can do about it. But they're wrong." she paused as she looked up at him, "Ravens was a great book and would have done great with or without her help and the Comet, well it would have helped if the dumbass would have known how to market it correctly but it was still a good book. And so is this one. You're a great writer Luke and I don't want you to think that you need her help to make your books great- because they already are."

He kissed her forehead before running his fingers through her hair, saying, "If you don't want me to go, just say the word. I'll understand. I do understand."

"No, I want you to go." Just not with her, she added silently, giving him a smile. "Just remember what's waiting for you back home."

"Like I could ever forget." he said placing a kiss on the top of her head, "I love you, Peyton Scott."

She knew he was saying it to reassure her but she couldn't help the thoughts that crept into her head every once in a while. Wondering if he thought he'd made a mistake. She knew it was ludicrous. She knew he loved the life they had and their family.

"I love you too, Lucas Scott." she said, "The first week in September."

"Huh?" he asked

"You're supposed to be gone the first week in September. Sawyer's starts school that week."

"I'll e-mail Lindsey and tell her to move the date or cancel. There's no way I'm missing that."

She knew that would be his answer but it still brought a smile to her face when she heard him say that. It wasn't too long later, his chest started to raise and fall steadily and his grip loosened slightly telling her he had fallen asleep but sleep wouldn't come easy for her. Her mind was on overdrive. In the matter of three day's Dan, Rachel and Lindsey had come back into their lives. Now she knew for sure, they were home in Tree Hill.


	12. The Bad Girl

Thanks DKnAK for betaing this chapter. I agree with you. That small changed was needed. It made flow a lot better. Thanks for all your help.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill….someone else does.

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews: misshay16, bendecida82, HJS-NS-23, Leytonloveforever, DKnAK, MichelleBell16, RJMoonspell4, OTHGirl24, Juzzy88, Cullensforever123, grayfan, mthorne13, LPfan4ever, crazyjan (x2), kigal001 and AnnOTH21. They really do mean a lot to me.

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_**Going home, again**_

_**The Bad Girl…**_

Two weeks. That was how long they had before Luke had to leave. Peyton noticed it when she examined the dates closer the next morning. He would be gone for a week, and as he had explained it, if the response was good he would be home for the weekend before leaving for up to two more weeks before coming home again. Peyton was surprised at how well Sawyer took the news but figured something was up when she saw the secret smile that passed between father and daughter.

The two weeks passed far too quickly for anyone's liking and before they knew it they were saying good bye in front of the house. The first night was the hardest. After a long flight, Luke wanted nothing more than to get to the hotel and crawl into bed only to end up lying awake most of the night, staring at the empty spot beside him. Peyton had it a little easier because the empty spot was filled by the small body of their four year old, but still sleep was hard to come by without the arms of her husband around her waist.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Sawyer and Peyton stood anxiously in the airport waiting for Luke to appear in the crowd. She knew from the instant she saw his beaming smile the response to the book was good and she felt something tug at her heart. Yes, she was proud of him and was thrilled that his book was doing well but at the same time, getting through one week without him around was hard enough. She couldn't fathom how she was going to last fourteen days without him, if not longer.

The entire weekend was planned out. Luke would've been happy to sit around the house and just relax with his family but Sawyer and Peyton weren't having it. Neither was the gang. There was a cook out at Nathan's house, a pick up game at the river court, and a trip to the beach. It was almost as like Peyton was trying to make the weekend more memorable than any other weekend.

He could tell something was on her mind when he talked to her during the week. Right after he told her everything was going good with the tour, really good. Whenever they were on the phone and even in her e-mails, she seemed distant. Like something was on her mind.

The private conversation Haley, Brooke and Peyton were having didn't go unnoticed either. It seemed like every time he turned around they were standing out of ear shot. Having known these women since they were teenagers, Luke didn't have to look long to know that they were reassuring Peyton about something. From the way Brooke would give her a hug or Haley's pats on the arm, to the way Peyton stood nervously playing with the necklace that hung around her neck, one arm wrapped around her stomach with a nervous look in her eyes. As soon as he would be caught watching them, their body language would change but he wasn't stupid. Something was on Peyton's mind, bugging her. Now, he just had to figure out what it was.

The answer came the night before he left. She stood in the doorway watching him. He noticed her immediately and sent her a half smile as he continued to pack. Eventually, she made a small jab about 'when did he start packing the night before'. He sarcastically laughed before telling her he'd discovered that if he packed at night, it gave him more time with his girls in the morning. It shocked the hell out of him when she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck.

Then she blurted out the question that's been plaguing her mind since he left a week ago. How much time were he and Lindsay really spending together? The question wasn't worded exactly like that; it was somewhere along the lines of how much involvement does Lindsay have on the tour but he read between the lines.

Sitting down on the edge of their bed, he pulled her into his lap and explained how they really don't see each other that much outside of the book stores. Sure they ate dinner together a couple of times, something he had told her over the phone when it happened, but that was only because some big wig was there and it was required of them. And he made sure Peyton knew the only thing he and Lindsey talked about was the book. That it didn't go any further than that.

By the time he was done she started to apologize, saying she knew it was dumb but her mind just got the best of her and she knew she was acting like a jealous teenager. After pointing out she made one hot jealous teenager, he asked how long she's been feeling like this. She recognized the look he gave her when she sheepishly told him since she found out about Lindsey being his editor. As soon as he rolled his eyes, she said she knew there was nothing to worry about but it was like there was this nagging monster in the back of her mind telling her something was going to happen and his voice got louder with every passing day.

Luke just gave her a kiss, leaving her breathless before showing her that she had nothing to worry about. As their naked bodies laid under the messy sheets, tangled together Luke watched her sleep with a smile on her face, bringing a frown to his. He figured the reason Peyton was acting so strange had something to do with Lindsey which is why when he told her Lindsay had successfully moved the dates around so he could be home for Sawyers first day of school, he left out the part about Lindsey's reaction to finding out about their daughter. When he asked who she had thought Sawyer was, Lindsey mumbled something about hearing a few people refer to Peyton by that name.

Luke recognized the hurt and a hint of jealously in her eyes immediately. After all, they had worked closely for years and had dated for three. It wasn't that hard to recognize, which is why he quickly excused himself to go call his family. He didn't want to give her any reason to think that there was any hope there. He wanted to stay as far away from that road as he could and if that meant having Peyton and Sawyer join him for every stop on the tour, he'd do it.

If she was honest with herself, Lindsey would have to admit that somewhere in the back of her mind she had thought that the book was about his child. She knew better than most people how much his books were based on actual events in his life and if that was true now, her heart went out to him. The newly engaged couple in the book had endured a tough pregnancy but everything turned out alright in the end. At the same time, every time that thought crept up in to the forefront, she would push it aside. Because honestly, it hurt too much to think about a child he had with someone else- much less Peyton. That was supposed to be her life; not that she'd ever, ever say that out loud.

Lindsey and Luke really didn't spend much time together outside of the book stores he had to make an appearance at. Most of the time, he sat in his hotel room writing or was on the phone with someone from back home. Conversations were often forced and filled with awkward pauses between them. Both kept it professional and never attempted to blur the line. Her job was at stake and his family. Something he wasn't willing to lose even if that meant he'd have to sacrifice his friendship with Lindsey. It was a small price to pay in his eyes.

The weekend passed far too quickly in Peyton's opinion and this time it was a little harder to say good bye. Not because of Sawyer. She once again happily gave her father a hug and kiss, waving from the front porch. It was the uncertainty he saw in Peyton's green eyes that made it hard for him to get into the car. He hated the fact that she felt like that and it turned his stomach when he thought about all the reasons she felt that way. Reasons he'd given her time and time again.

Not lately of course. As a matter of fact ever since that fateful plane ride to Vegas, they've been right on track. Sure they had their disagreements every once in a while just like any other normal married couple but they were on the same page now and had been for a long time. Everything fell into place the moment he saw her rush into the airport looking flustered and the second she crashed her lips to his, everything was right in the world again. But that didn't erase their past and he knew that.

"Momma I don't want to go here." Sawyer stated from the back seat

Peyton looked in the review mirror at her daughters face. It was Saturday, six days since Luke had left. And even though he called countless times during the day and always around Sawyer's bedtime, the four year old had expected her father home yesterday. They had explained to her he would be gone longer this time and she nodded her head, acting like she understood what that meant. Which was why Peyton was not prepared for the tantrum Sawyer threw yesterday when she realized her Daddy wasn't coming home.

After Sawyer said good-night and handed the phone back to Peyton, the night before, she heard Luke throwing stuff into his suitcase, exclaiming he was coming home. Peyton laughed softly and talked him into staying but, still, the fact that he was going to walk away from everything at the simple request of their daughter warmed her heart.

"I thought you wanted to stay with me today?" Peyton questioned as she turned to look at Sawyer with an eyebrow raised.

Sawyer tried to mimic her mothers face, saying, "But I don't want to be here."

At first, Peyton struggled to keep the grin off her face when she saw Sawyer's look but the words that came out of her daughters mouth made her want to let out a frustrated sigh. It had been a little under a month since the incident at TRIC and Sawyer was still refusing to step foot anywhere near the place. Which wasn't a big deal until Luke left. He would take Sawyer for the day but now that he wasn't around, babysitters were hard to find. There were more than enough people who offered to help but at the same time, everyone had their own lives.

Nathan had started practice again and was gone just as much as Luke. Haley was in the middle of recording her next album, therefore was spending much of her time at TRIC. Skills would take Sawyer every once in a while and Brooke always said the little girl was more than welcome to come stay at the store. Until Peyton picked Sawyer up the day before. Brooke calmly told Peyton that she loved both the Sawyer girls but she needed a day to herself to try and get some work done. Which left Peyton with no other option than to take Sawyer with her to TRIC today.

It was easy to get her in the car. All she had to do was tell her it was a surprise but as soon as they turned the corner bringing TRIC into view, Sawyer immediately said she wanted to go back home.

"Sawyer, I promise you that mean man doesn't work here anymore and we'll be in my office the whole time. You don't have to stay downstairs."

"No." Sawyer said stubbornly as she crossed her arms over her chest, "I don't like anyone here."

Peyton softly laughed, saying "Really? Well, I'll just have to tell Aunt Haley you don't like her anymore."

Sawyer let out a gasp as she put her hands on her hips the best she could strapped into her toddler seat, saying, "That's not true."

"And then there's John. He's going to be pretty disappointed that his button pusher doesn't want to come around anymore." Peyton continued as she helped Sawyer out of the car.

"Don't do that, Momma." Sawyer exclaimed as Peyton held her in her arms, walking up the stairs "I like pushing all the neat buttons."

"And then there's Mia, with you not coming to TRIC anymore, how are you every going to meet her?"

"Momma," Sawyer drawled out "You don't know Mia."

Yes, Sawyer Scott was a huge fan of Mia Catalano. Her number one fan if you asked Sawyer and no matter how many times Peyton told her she knew Mia, Sawyer didn't believe her. Even after showing her personal photos, an autographed picture specifically to her and a phone call or two Sawyer still didn't believe her. She even told Mia that she didn't believe it was her on the phone when they talked. Peyton couldn't wait to see Sawyers reaction when Mia came to the studio to record.

"And look where we are." Peyton announced once they were in her office.

Sawyer looked around before squinting her eyes towards her mother, crossing her arms over her chest and a slight pout came to her face as she said, "You tricked me."

"We'll only be here for a little while." Peyton promised with a light laugh as she put Sawyer on the ground.

She watched as Sawyer ran towards the studio and a few seconds later she heard John say, "There's my button pusher. It's about time you came back to work. We've missed you kid."

When she heard Sawyer's giggle float through the air, Peyton let out a sigh of relief and quickly sent Luke a text telling him she had successfully gotten Sawyer to come to TRIC. She was surprised when her phone beeped a few seconds later with a message telling her he was glad, that he badly missed them and all he wanted was for them to be with him.

A few hours later, Sawyer returned to her mother's side asking if she could play on the pool table, something Luke frowned upon saying she could fall off and hurt herself. Still Peyton put a couple of balls on the table before helping Sawyer on to it. Taking a seat behind her desk, she kept a watchful eye on her daughter telling her to get back when she thought she was too close to the edge as she reviewed some paper work in front of her.

"Good after noon, ladies."

"Hi Uncle Julian." Sawyer replied, rather unimpressed.

Julian looked at Peyton, an eyebrow raised in question. She looked over at him confused as she stood up from her chair, greeting him with a hug.

"That's all I get." he said as he scooped Sawyer up from the pool table. "I hang out with you all day yesterday and all I get's a 'hi Uncle Julian'." he finished, mocking her voice as he tickled her stomach.

The giggle Sawyer had desperately tried to hold back broke through the air. It was just a reaction though because as soon as he pulled his hand away, the giggles faded. As Sawyer gave him a hug, he sent a look over her shoulder towards Peyton who just shrugged her shoulders and looked at her daughter with concern in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry I'm late. Liz didn't want to stay with the babysitter and Jamie's with Nathan so I didn't have him around to help distract her as I left." Haley rushed out as she burst through the door only to stop when Julian turned around "Sawyer."

"Hi Aunt Haley."

Haley was shocked to see the four year old in the office. It'd been a while and from what Luke and Peyton told her, she figured it would be a while before she saw her in here again. She quickly recovered from her shock and a smile crossed her face as she scooped Sawyer out of Julian's arms.

"It's about time you came back here." she said as she made her way towards the studio, sending a smile at Peyton before disappearing out of sight.

"So…" Julian asked as he sat down in the chair opposite of Peyton's desk, "What'd you do to the kid?"

Peyton raised an eyebrow while sending him a look as she sat back down, saying, "What makes you think I did something?"

"Because when you picked her up from the store last night, she was happy."

"I forgot you were in town. I could have called you this morning to watch her." she said more to herself then him causing him to raise an eyebrow in question. Shaking her head, she replied to his previous statement, "Because when I picked her up last night she was under the impression that we were going to pick up Luke."

"Ah…" he said with a nod of his head, "I thought I heard her say something about him coming home yesterday."

"Jerk," Peyton exclaimed as she threw a crumpled up piece of paper at him, "why didn't you say anything? You could have saved me a lot of trouble."

"She was having a conversation with her dolls." he defended himself with a slight laugh as he dodged the paper ball. "I didn't think anything of it really. Sorry."

"Just wait till you have kids. Payback's a bitch." she said with amusement in her voice "You're gone more than Luke. You'll have to deal with a tired, pissed off child one of these day."

Julian let out a laugh but hid the fact that her statement hit closer to home then she could have ever imagined. He has thought about that himself many times and it was true. Luke was gone for a couple of weeks at a time before coming home and when Julian left, it would be for a couple months. Sure, he'd come home for a weekend visit but even those were spur of the moment, more of a 'I have a couple day's off coming up' kind of deal. He planned on taking some time off when and if Brooke got pregnant but eventually he always planned to return to work.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he looked at Peyton, asking "So where is Luke anyway?"

"Right now…" she paused as she quickly ran down the dates in her head "L.A. for the next two days and then to southern California."

This sparked Julian's interest and he asked "Has Luke ever said anything about taking Sawyer with him?"

"Sure." she said as she sat back in her chair "We've talked about it and after last night's phone call I'm pretty sure we've come to the agreement that next time he leaves, she's going with him."

"Why wait for him to come home? All it would take is a plane ticket and she could see him today."

"Because I'm not about to send my four year old off on a plane with complete strangers hoping she finds her father when she lands at one of the busiest airports in America." She said sending him a look. "And before you ask, yeah we thought about flying with her but his days are pretty much planned out down to the minute and if I went, I wouldn't want to come home."

Julian gave her a smile, asking "Well, what if she didn't have to fly alone?"

_***One Tree Hill***_

Lindsey let out a sigh as she watched Luke interact with the people in line. Everyone of them received that smile she wished he'd send her way just once. Everyone of them got his full attention when they spoke to him; something she wished she could say. Everyone of them got to touch him in some way, whether it was to take a picture or a simple hand shake. Something she's been dying to do since they met at the airport a week ago.

It wasn't like Lindsey had pined away for Lucas all these years. Yeah, she lied when she told him there was someone else and her hopes came crashing down around her when she answered her phone that night only to discover it wasn't him on the other side. After that fateful day in her office when she learned about his wedding to Peyton, she'd let go.

She dated a couple of guys over the years; had one serious relationship that ended about six months ago when Lucas' new book was placed on her desk. It wasn't like she wanted that but she had become distant after that. Something else, or rather someone else, was always on her mind and she couldn't deny it when her boyfriend threw that in her face.

She couldn't help but wonder if things had worked out for Peyton and him. Once she read the dedications To Sawyer, our miracle, she figured things were good. All the editing was done by the time his book reached her and she knew for a fact that he didn't know the book was in her hands. The bosses had read it and thought it had the same potential as Ravens and they wanted her to handle it.

She was anxious about his reaction to the news of the company wanting her to be his editor again and was shocked when he walked into the meeting without sending a glance in her direction. If he was shocked when he finally laid eyes on her, he hid it well but her eyes were immediately drawn to the jewelry he started to fidget with. Yeah, he told her he was getting married and after reading his book, she figured he had gone through with it this time. But seeing the symbol there on his finger, made her stomach turn and immediately, that little voice in the back of her head reminded her he would have gone through with their wedding too. It was she who had walked away.

He had kept his promise to keep it professional between them. The only time they talked was when it had to do with the book and if she would ask a question straying from that, he would quickly excuse himself. She understood, to a point, why he was doing it but then she thought back to when they were engaged. That didn't keep him from trying to have a friendship with Peyton, so really why wouldn't it be okay for them to have some type of friendship. Because they're not engaged, they're married, the little voice would tell her but she would quickly push the thought aside.

She had over heard him on more than one occasion refer to his family. A couple of times she saw him pull out his wallet and show a picture of them and her stomach would instantly turn when she heard "What a beautiful family." She was jealous- he never took the time to show her anything. To this day she wondered what his child looks like. Did she have his eyes or were they green like her mother's? Did she have his hair color? Thousands of questions ran through her head, the most frequent was if she was ever going to meet said little girl. That question quickly brought a frown to her face because she knew that if Sawyer would join them, that meant her mother probably wasn't too far behind.

Luke's laughter brought her out of her thoughts and she silently scolded herself for going to that place again. He was a married man. Off limits. But the she reminded herself that he was also off limits when Peyton came into their lives and that didn't stop her from worming her way back into his life. Lindsey knew it was childish and immature but she couldn't help but have a strong dislike towards Peyton. In her eyes, the long-legged bombshell took everything from her. Her man, her friends, the life she was supposed to have. Everything.

Somewhere deep inside she knew that wasn't the truth. That had always been Peyton's life. Haley was Peyton's friend first. Tree Hill was Peyton's town first and Luke. Luke was Peyton's first. But in Lindsey's eyes that didn't give her the right to barge in the way that she did and that didn't stop her from pursuing Luke that way that she did.

Lindsey let out a sigh as she looked at her watch. She didn't like where her mind had been taking her lately. She didn't like the idea's running through her head. She wasn't that girl and never has been. But still, she started to think about it more and more. She could innocently start a friendship up with Luke, just like Peyton did. She could innocently remind him about the good times they had shared, just like Peyton did. And Lindsey was sure she could convince him that he'd made the wrong choice and come back to her, just like Peyton did.

"They just closed the door. There're only about five more people in line and then we can get out of here." Lindsey's assistant whispered in her ear, "You up for drinks afterwards?"

"Sure." Lindsey said with a nod of her head as smile crossed her face, "Maybe we can even get Luke to come."

"Good luck with that." she replied. "I heard he always calls his kid around bedtime and it has to be pretty late on the east coast."

The smile on Lindsey's face only grew. She could suggest calling on the way to the bar, using her assistants excuse that it was pretty late in Tree Hill and if that didn't work, well, he couldn't call if he couldn't find his phone right. And making sure they were in the same cab would just ensure he would come. If there was one thing she knew about Lucas Scott was that if you bothered him enough, he'd eventually give in just to shut you up.

"I'll still ask." she replied as she made her way towards the table. Setting her hand on his phone hidden from view from a pile of books, she leaned over and whispered, "They just closed the doors. This is the last of the people."

She noticed how he leaned away and nodded his head before smiling at the person approaching the table and she let out a sigh as she walked away. A smile crossed her face as she turned the phone off in her hand before tossing it in her purse. She had always been the good girl and she had to admit, she liked the rush of being the bad girl.

_***One Tree Hill***_

"Okay, it's a surprise so we have to be cool, alright?"

The young girl nodded her head but Julian was biting his cheek to stop from laughing at the way she kept peeking around the people in front of them and the way her eyes lit up when they landed on her father a mere five feet in front of them.

"Daddy doesn't know I'm here?" she questioned again, looking over at Julian with a smile on her face.

That's the only question she's repeated since she hugged Peyton good-bye at the airport. Once they were on the plane she explained how Daddy's always surprising her and Momma and she was excited to surprise him for once. Even after they'd checked in to Julian's hotel, she reminded him ten different time not to forget her bags because she was staying with her Daddy. It was Julian who pointed out this whole thing was his idea to which she replied, don't forget my bags.

"Not unless your Mom called and told him."

"She wouldn't do that." Sawyer exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest as a slight pout came to her lips, "I wanted to surprise him."

Julian cringed. Obviously that was the wrong thing to say. Nodding his head, he whispered, "She didn't call. Shh…we're almost up."

Sawyer nodded as a smile lit up her face once again and she started twisting and turning in his arms to get a good look at Luke. Julian quickly picked up the nearest book and shoved it into Sawyer's hands trying to distract her. He frowned when he saw the blond haired lady lean in towards Luke, but he laughed lightly at the look of annoyance that crossed Luke's face for a split second before nodding his head. He knew enough about Lindsey to know that was her and he was happy he could report back to Brooke that Lucas was indeed behaving himself while he was away.

Luke started to look around for something as Julian and Sawyer approached the table. Hearing someone clear their throat, he said "I'm sorry, I can't seem to find my…" he trailed off when he looked up to see his beautiful daughter in the arms of the man he once hated and stood up so fast that he knocked his chair over. This got the attention of the people around him but Luke didn't care and he had just enough time to reach over the table before Sawyer jumped into his arms.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Surprise."

A smile Lindsey hadn't seen since she's been around Luke crossed his face and he looked at the man over the little girl's shoulder confused. She took a couple of steps closer.

"How?" was all Luke managed to say.

Julian laughed, saying "Someone thought you were coming home last night and after I talked to Peyton today, I figured I could bring her out. So here we are."

"Thanks Jul-"

"Daddy." Sawyer said cupping Luke's face with her small hands making him look at her, mad because the attention wasn't on her, "Aren't you glad to see me?"

"Of course Baby girl. Best surprise ever." he said hugging her to his body.

The only thing that could make this surprise better was if his beautiful wife were standing on the other side of the table instead of Julian but right now, but he'll take what he can get.

Opening his eyes, he sent Julian a smile, saying, "Seriously, thanks man."

"It gave me someone to talk to on the plane." Julian said with a shrug of his shoulder but Luke could tell from the grin he wore, that he was glad he could help.

"No, this is huge." Luke said as he placed a kiss on the top of Sawyer's head.

Once again, Julian simply shrugged his shoulders as he sent a quick glance in Lindsey's direction, noticing how she seemed to be watching them, before looking back to Luke, saying, "Besides, now I can tell Brooke you're behaving."

Luke laughed but his tone was serious when he said, "You can tell Brooke there's nothing to worry about." a frown crossed his face, "Is Peyt worried?"

"No," Julian said with a laugh. "Brooke's just being Brooke."

Luke nodded his head but Julian could see the relief written all over his face as he turned to look at his daughter, asking, "You hungry, Sawyer?"

She tried to hide the yawn as she nodded her head. Julian chuckled lightly, saying, "She wouldn't even try the food on the plane. She said it just looked yucky."

"Yeah," Luke laughed. "Peyt usually packs her something. We've never been able to get her to eat airplane food."

"Can't blame her," Julian said, "The food isn't to appetizing."

Luke nodded his head in agreement, saying, "Well you want to grab something to eat?"

Julian looked surprised at the offer but quickly nodded his head, saying, "If you can get out of here, I know this little burger joint around the corner."

"Sounds good. Besides, Sawyer's probably going to fall asleep soon. It'd be nice to get something in her stomach. It would make the morning go a lot smoother." he laughed at the confused look on Julian face "Trust me, you'll see. A hungry kid falling asleep before getting a chance to eat equals a hungry, crabby kid in the morning."

Julian laughed as they walked towards the door, pointing over his shoulder, he asked, "Don't you need to see if they need you for anything else?"

Luke shook his head as they walked outside saying, "I would have been out of here a while ago if you two hadn't shown up. Anything Lindsey need's can wait till morning. Sawyer's more important."

Julian laughed as he pulled out his phone sending Brooke a text saying all was well and there was nothing to worry about. Putting the phone back into this pocket, they walked into the local diner and ordered. Sawyer seemed to have caught a second wind as she talked non-stop about what Luke had missed during the week.

Julian watched as Luke gave his full attention to Sawyer, adding things in here and there. After her chicken fingers were gone, Sawyer abandoned her chair for Luke's lap and was soon sleeping peacefully against his shoulder. The men made small talk as Julian watched amazed as Luke ate and held a conversation with ease all the while never disturbing the four year old resting against him.

"How do you do it?" Julian suddenly asked causing Luke to raise an eyebrow in question. "I mean it's hard enough leaving Brooke when I have to go out of town. I can't imagine what it's like to leave your kid as well."

"Oh it's hard." he instantly said. "And trust me, every time there's a point where I want to tell the cab to turn around or hop on the next plane home but Peyton makes it easier. The phone calls help and surprise visits aren't to bad either."

"Do you ever think about walking away from all of it?"

"Everyday." Luke answered honestly. "But then Sawyer will ask me to read her book to her or I'll see Peyton reading Ravens and it makes it worth it."

"Yeah because everybody knows she doesn't go anywhere without that damn book." Julian said with a laugh.

"What'd you mean?"

Julian looked at Luke surprised, asking, "Sawyer's never told you?"

"It's Scott." Luke pointed out causing Julian to laugh, "And told me what?"

"Ravens is the entire reason we broke up. She took that book everywhere and any free second she had, her nose was in it."

A smile played on Luke's lips as he said, "Glad I could help."

"I'm sure." Julian said laughing and then with a wave of his hand, he continued, "It all turned out for the best."

Luke nodded his head in agreement before his eyes went wide and he said, "You did call Peyt and tell her you landed and everything was okay, right?"

"Um…No, I guess I was concentrating on getting Sawyer to you."

"So you mean, Peyton doesn't know Sawyer's still alive?" he asked

"I'm sure she knows Sawyer's fine. She's with me, what could've happen?"

"In Peyton's head, a million and one things. How could you not call her?" he asked as he frantically started to search his pockets for his cell phone, cursing under his breath when he came up empty handed.

"Me what about you? You haven't called her either."

Luke shot Julian a look before saying, "Let me you use your phone."

"What's wrong with your phone?" he asked as he handed his phone to Luke.

"I can't find it." he mumbled as he punched in Peyton phone number

"Please, please, please just tell me my daughter alive, Julian." she rushed out when she answered the phone.

"Everything's fine, Babe."

"Luke?" she questioned before continuing unfazed, "What's wrong with Sawyer? Does she still have all her limbs. Oh god something didn't happen to the plane right? I've been watching the news and it didn't say anything about a plane crash-"

"Everything's fine, Blondie. Julian just forgot to call you."

"Hey." Julian protested

"Him. What about you Lucas? Didn't you think I would like to know my daughter arrived in one piece and was safe with her father."

"Your daughter?" he repeated, his voice fill with amusement

"Seriously Luke." she said in a tone letting him know she didn't find any of this funny. "Why didn't you call me? I've been worried sick. They were supposed to land two and a half hours ago. I thought something happened."

"And you thought watching the news would help?" he asked causing her to let out a groan before she started to whine, he cut in, "Sawyer's in one piece and everything's fine. By the time I realized no one had called you. I couldn't find my phone."

"Not cool, Luke, and you can let Julian know I plan to tell Brooke." she said in a tone that let him know she had a glare on her face. "What happened to your phone?"

He paused to think about the last time he had his phone before saying, "I think I might have left it at the book store. I'll call them when I get back to the hotel."

"Oh." she paused "Well, let me talk to the kid."

"Um…" he trailed off as he looked down at Sawyer "She's sleeping, Peyt."

"Luke." she whined

"Hey, she was falling asleep in my arms at the book store. I wanted to make sure she ate something before she fell asleep for the night. Which is another reason why I didn't call right away."

"So, Sawyer is sleeping in the middle of a restaurant?"

"I'm heading to the hotel right now."

By this time, Julian was having a hard time holding back the laughter as he listened to Luke's side of the conversation causing Luke to roll his eyes.

"Well…just call me when you get to the hotel." she asked, her voice letting him know she was starting to realize how irrational she sounded.

"Alright." he said with a slight laugh.

"And Luke." she said before he could hang up. "If Sawyer just so happens to wake up, try to keep her up so I can at least say good night."

"Love you." was all he replied.

He waited until she hung up before flipping the phone shut and handing it back to Julian. As he took it a few laughs escaped causing Luke to glare at him.

"She's telling Brooke."

That simple statement was enough to wipe the smirk off his face and it was Luke who was laughing as he stood up. After they paid the bill, they made their way towards Julian rental car.

"You sure you don't need any help?" Julian asked as they pulled up in front of Luke's hotel.

"No, I got it." Luke replied as he expertly got Sawyer out of the back seat, before grabbing her bag and the toddler seat "Thanks again Julian."

"Don't worry about it. I'm glad I could help."

Luke gave him a smile as they said good-bye and made his way through the main lobby, heading towards the elevator. Setting the toddler seat down, he hit the button to his floor before adjusting Sawyer, causing her to stir.

"Daddy, are we to the bed yet?" she mumbled against his shoulder

"Almost." he said with a soft laugh. "If you can stay awake for a few more minutes you can tell Momma good-night."

She nodded her head and now at least he can tell Peyton he tried to get her to stay awake. When the bell dinged, he picked up the toddler seat up before making his way down the long hallway towards his room. Re-adjusting Sawyer, he reached for his wallet in his back pocket for his room key.

"Daddy, I'm tired." he heard Sawyer mumbled against his neck.

"We're almost there." he promised as a grin crossing his face once he had his key card in his hand.

He pushed the door open and walked through. Just as it was about to close, it got pushed back open causing Luke to whip around.

"Luke you forgot your phone at the bo…" Lindsey trailed off when she came face to face with Luke and his daughter and was biting the inside of her cheek to keep the smile away. "Sorry, I didn't mean to barge in. I saw you walk through the door and thought you might want this back."

Luke raised an eyebrow as he set Sawyer's bag down in the corner before grabbing the phone out of Lindsey's hands.

"You left it on the table. Probably forgot it with all the excitement." she added, looking between him and Sawyer before looking back to him expectantly.

By this time, Sawyer had raised her head from his shoulder and was staring at the women that stood before her.

"Who are you?" Sawyer finally asked, breaking the silence, pointing a finger towards Lindsey.

"I'm you're Daddy's editor, Lindsey and you must be Sawyer." Lindsay said when Luke didn't make a move to introduce the two of them.

She stuck her hand out expecting the little girl to shake it but instead she cupped her father's face in between her small hands, forcing him to look at her, asking, "Can we call Momma now?"

He laughed lightly at the seriousness in Sawyer's eyes but nodded his head before placing a kiss on Sawyer's forehead, saying, "Yeah, Baby girl. Let's call Momma."

After making sure the phone was calling Peyton, he gave the phone to Sawyer and set her down on the ground before looking back to Lindsey.

"Thanks." he finally said, "For grabbing my phone."

"Don't worry about it." she said sending him a smile, "She's adorable, Luke. Sawyer."

Luke merely nodded his head as Sawyer greeted Peyton on the phone, sending a glare at Lindsey. Luke put his hand on Sawyer's shoulder, sending her a disapproving look and she turned on her heel, walking further into the room without sending another look in Lindsey's direction, excitingly telling Peyton about the plane ride with Uncle Julian.

"Oh you're in trouble once she hit's the teenaged years." Lindsey said with a light laugh. "Julian? Isn't that Brooke's husband?"

Luke raised an eyebrow. As far as he knew, no one from back home really talked to Lindsey anymore. Haley mentioned her once in a while but she's told him, it's only a friendly e-mail here and there. She swears she's never told her anything about him or his life and that Lindsey's never asked. Also, he was pretty sure Brooke cut ties with her the day Lindsey walked out of the church.

"Tabloid's." she supplied when she saw his look of confusion. "I read it in a magazine. B. Davis is now B. Baker."

Luke nodded his head, saying, "It's still B. Davis for the public."

Lindsey nodded, not missing the tone of his voice clearly telling her this conversation was going to a place he wanted to stay away from.

"Thanks again for grabbing my phone."

Lindsey went to reply when Sawyer appeared by her father's side again. Giving his hand a tug, she held out the phone, saying, "Talk to Momma, Daddy."

A smile crossed Luke's face and he sent Lindsey one last look, his way of telling her good-bye before taking the phone out of Sawyer's hand. Lindsey paused in the door way and looked back as Luke laughed at something Peyton said, giving Sawyer a look as he ran his fingers though her tangle head of curly blond hair.

The answer to all of her questions was standing before her. She had her father's eyes, eyes that seemed to be sending daggers her way. But other than that, she was her mother's daughter. Right down to the temper. When she noticed Luke staring at her with a questioned look, she gave him a small smile before exiting the room completely.

"I don't like her." Sawyer exclaimed once the door was shut.

Luke was about to tell his daughter that wasn't nice when he heard Peyton say, "I agree with Sawyer."


End file.
